Death penalty for techie murderer in Mumbai

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Death penalty for techie murderer in Mumbai
Esther Anuhya

Mumbai - The porter raped Esther Anuhya before smashing her head with a stone and strangling her.

by

Nithin Belle

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Published: Fri 30 Oct 2015, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Sat 31 Oct 2015, 9:10 AM

A Special women's court on Friday sentenced a 29-year-old porter to death for raping and murdering a young woman techie from Andhra Pradesh, who had returned to Mumbai by train from Vijaywada in January last year.
"The case falls under the category of the rarest of rare, hence the accused is awarded death sentence," declared Vurshali Joshi, the judge of the special court. "He must be hanged by his neck till he is dead."
Chandrabhan Sanap, the porter, was convicted earlier in the week for murder, rape and other charges. The police managed to nab the accused and bring him to trial in a record time of two months and the verdict too was delivered in a short time.
The prosecution demanded the death penalty for Sanap, pointing out that anything less would send a wrong signal.
Esther Anuhya, the 23-year-old victim, a software engineer, had returned to Mumbai after her Christmas vacation to rejoin work at TCS. The train reached the Kurla terminus at 5am and Esther was waiting for a taxi to drop her to her place in south Mumbai.
Sanap approached her and told her he was a cabbie and offered to drop her home for Rs300. However, when they walked out of the station, he took her to his motorcycle and told her that his taxi was not working. He convinced her to sit on his bike.
A few minutes later, he diverted the bike to a lonely stretch near Kanjur Marg on the pretext of going to a petrol station. He then dragged her to nearby bushes and tried to rape her. When she resisted, he smashed her head with a stone and strangled her. Later, Sanap took petrol from his bike and tried to burn her. He then took her baggage and fled.
When Esther's father could not reach her, he lodged a missing person's complaint and then came to Mumbai. About 10 days later, the police found her charred and decomposed body by the side of the Eastern Express highway.
The police scanned the CCTV cameras at the station and spotted footage of Sanap talking to Esther. Sanap was nabbed in Nashik in less than two months.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com


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