Zeenews Bureau
Pune: A Sessions Court on Tuesday awarded death sentences to two persons convicted in connection with the sensational gang rape and murder of a 26-year-old executive of Wipro BPO in 2007 here.
The court had pronounced the two guilty on Saturday.
The victim, who was an employee of the firm, was raped before being murdered by a cab driver and his accomplice in Pune on November 1, 2007.
"There were no eyewitnesses in the case. Due to the concrete evidence and examination of 29 witnesses, the court held the two accused, Purushottam Borate (28), cab driver and his accomplice Pradeep Kokate (26) guilty," Ujjwal Nikam, special public prosecutor, said.
The woman, who hailed from Gorakhpur, was staying with her sister and brother-in-law at the time of the incident. She had joined the call centre as an associate in 2006, Nikam said.
Investigating officials, who had arrested the cab driver and his friend, said the woman, who was alone in the vehicle and could not make out, which way the cab was going.
She was not well-versed with the area's topography.
She was raped and then strangulated with a scarf. The accused had also smashed her head with stones. Her body found in a field had deep strangulation marks on the neck and injuries on the hands and legs, Nikam said.
Police said that after the incident, the cab driver picked up other employees on the way, as he returned to the Wipro call centre, as if nothing had happened.
(With PTI inputs)
First Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 13:43