A trial court in Pune on Tuesday sentenced three convicts to death in connection with a 2009 case of abduction, gangrape and murder of a software engineer, reported ANI. The court, which had held Yogesh Raut, Mahesh Thakur and Vishwas Kadam guilty on Monday, had let off fourth accused-turned-approver Rajesh Chaudhari in the case.
Before Tuesday’s hearing, special public prosecutor Harshad Nimbalkar had told The Times of India that he will press for the death sentence. “This is a fit case falling under the ‘rarest of rare’ case concept and we will press for death penalty for all the three convicts,” he told the daily. “More so, considering the brutal manner in which the victim was gangraped and killed.”
The 28-year-old software engineer was kidnapped on the evening of October 7, 2009, from Kharadi-Mundhwa bypass when she was on her way home. Two days later, her mutilated body was found in the Zarewadi forests in Pune district. Investigations revealed that men had raped her in a car before robbing her of Rs 61,000 using her ATM card. They had later strangled and bludgeoned her to death.
Ypgesh Raut was employed as a cab driver at the same firm where the woman had worked. Chaudhari, too, was an employee of the company and worked there as a security guard, reported The Hindu. As many as 37 witnesses were examined during the trials, according to Pune Mirror.
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