HC hears appeals in rape & murder case of Wipro victim

The Bombay HC began hearing appeals filed by 2 convicts against death sentence awarded to them for raping and killing a Wipro BPO employee in Pune in 2007.

Mumbai: The Bombay High court on Monday began hearing appeals filed by two convicts against death sentence awarded to them for raping and killing a Wipro BPO employee in Pune in 2007.

The appeals of the convicts and the matter pertaining to confirmation of their death sentence came up before Justice V M Kanade and Justice Pramod Kode. It is mandatory in law for every death sentence awarded by the trial court to be confirmed by the High Court. The convicts Purshottam Borade and Pradeep Kokade have challenged the order of Pune Sessions Court, which, on March 18 this year awarded capital punishment to the duo for raping and killing the victim and dumping the body near Pune-Mumbai Expressway. The trial court had observed that this was the rarest of the rare case and also remarked that it was a case of premeditated rape and murder. Purshottam, a driver with a logistics company, picked up the victim from her home on the fateful night at midnight to take her to Wipro office, where she was on night duty. His friend Pradeep also joined them in the car and they took the victim to a nearby village, where she was raped and killed. The duo was charged with various offences under IPC such as 120-b (conspiracy), 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and 364 (kidnapping). The case had generated a great deal of public interest and the state government had appointed noted public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam to conduct the trial. Both the accused were present in the dock today and their family members were also present along with their lawyer. PTI