Pallavi Purkayastha, a 25-year-old advocate, was murdered in her apartment in Wadala in central Mumbai on August 9, 2012.
Young lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha's brutal murder in her own home in Mumbai in 2012 shocked the city known to be safe for women.
A trail of blood on the corridor outside her flat and on her neighbours' doorbell was evidence that she tried to escape from her killer and get help before being dragged back in.
A court today found the watchman of her building guilty of assaulting, molesting and killing her. Sajjad Ahmed Pathan, 22, silently nodded in court as a judge read out charges under which he faces life in jail or death penalty.
Pallavi's mother Sumita Purkayastha, fighting tears, said, "Our daughter died this way. She was everything to us. (Sajjad) deserves nothing less than death."
The 25-year-old lawyer and national level swimmer was murdered in her 16th floor "Himalayan Heights" apartment in Wadala in central Mumbai on August 9, 2012.
Within 24 hours, the police homed in on watchman Sajjad. (
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The prosecution alleged that Sajjad was enraged after Pallavi told him off for staring at her.
The night of the murder, the watchman repeatedly switched off power supply to Pallavi's flat knowing that she would ask for help. When she did, he arrived with an electrician and stole her flat keys.
Later, Sajjad sneaked into the flat when Pallavi was sleeping. He tried to rape her but she fought back fiercely. When she somehow dragged herself to the neighbouring flat and rang the bell, they couldn't see her so didn't open the door. Sajjad then slit her throat, the prosecution said. (
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Pallavi's fiance Avik Sengupta, who lived with her, found her body lying in blood. Taking in the disturbing crime scene, the Mumbai police described it as "perversion of the highest order." (
It was an act of perversion: Mumbai police on lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha's murder)
Mr Sengupta, who met and fell in love with Pallavi in law school, died of a brain illness in November last year. "He died of trauma at seeing his beloved die in such a brutal manner," said Pallavi's father Atanu Purkayastha, a joint secretary in the Union Agriculture Ministry.
"(Sajjad) devastated two families. For our families, the only closure will be when he gets death," Mr Purkayastha told NDTV.