Pallavi Purakayastha, a lawyer, had been murdered at her Mumbai residence on August 9, 2012.
Sajjad Ahmed Moghul, the security guard convicted of killing lawyer Pallavi Purakayastha at her Mumbai residence on August 9, 2012, had murdered the 25-year-old like a butcher, the prosecution told the Sessions Court today.
During the hearing on the quantum of sentencing, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam sought the death penalty for Sajjad.
As he described the manner in which Pallavi was killed, her parents Atanu and Sunita Purakayastha, who were present in court, broke down in tears.
Sajjad, who worked as a watchman at Pallavi's building, was found guilty of assaulting, molesting and killing her by the court on June 30.
The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on July 7.
According to the prosecution, on the night of the murder, the watchman repeatedly switched off the power supply to Pallavi's flat, as he wanted her to ask for his help.
When she did, he arrived with an electrician and stole her keys; he later used those keys to sneak inside the flat, said the prosecution. He tried to rape her but she fought back fiercely, Mr Nikam told the court; Sajjad then slit her throat and fled the scene.
He later told reporters, "The crime was committed in the most ghastly manner possible. Her cut her trachea so that she could not speak, shout or weep. The postmortem shows that she had over 16 injuries. This crime falls into the rarest of rare category and he should be sentenced to death."
"Legally speaking, he has committed the murder of Pallavi. But we know (Pallavi's partner) Avik Sengupta had a neurological reaction after the incident. He died after a few days as a result of the shock," Mr Nikam argued.
Defence lawyer Wahab Khan argued against the death sentence and claimed that the entire case was based on circumstantial evidence.
He later told reporters, "He was only 22 years old. He has only been found guilty on circumstantial evidence. It should be a life sentence, not a death penalty."
Earlier, Pallavi's mother Sunita Purakayastha had told NDTV, "She was everything to us. He (Sajjad) deserves nothing less than death."