11/05/2017
PUNE: A city
trial court on Tuesday awarded the capital punishment to the three accused in
the gangrape and murder of software professional Nayana Pujari in one of the
most anticipated judgments in the district and State in recent times.
The protracted seven-year trial finally concluded with the
sentencing of Yogesh Raut (32), Mahesh Thakur (31) and Vishwas Kadam (34) by
Special Judge L. L. Yenkar who said that the crime committed fell within the
purview of the rarest of the rare cases.
However, the acquittal of all charges of the fourth person
Rajesh Chaudhari (30), who was accused in the crime but later turned approver,
has courted controversy.
“Judge Yenkar has acquitted Chaudhari of all charges in the case
while holding three other accomplices guilty. Despite Chaudhari playing an
equal role in the crime, why was he let off the hook?” questioned Defence
lawyer B.A. Aloor, remarking that the judgment could set a dangerous precedent
wherein any accused could find a way of whitewashing his involvement in a
serious crime by conveniently turning approver.
The prosecution, during the course of the trial, had taken a
stand that Chaudhari was told that the victim was a sex worker and that this
prompted him to be part of the gang-rape.
At first, the Yerwada police had arrested all the four
accused, including Chaudhari and had slapped similar charges, including
kidnapping and murder, against all of them.
However, after the charge sheet was filed, Chaudhari had filed
an application to turn approver. No charges were framed against him since then.
‘Nirbhaya’
case evoked
Earlier in the day, Special Public Prosecutor Harshad
Nimbalkar vigorously argued for the death penalty commenting on the particularly
gratuitous nature of the crime and comparing the case with the ‘Nirbhaya’
gangrape case in Delhi which followed later.
“The accused have shown no remorse for the crime they’ve
committed to this day,” said prosecutor Nimbalkar.
The 28-year-old Ms. Pujari, an engineer with Synechron
Technologies in the city’s Kharadi area, was abducted near the Kharadi bypass
on October 7, 2009 while awaiting her transport back home. According to
investigators, Raut, along with Thakur, Kadam and Chaudhari, who worked as a
security guard with the firm, first kidnapped the hapless victim and later
raped her in the car. They withdrew Rs. 61,000 using her ATM card and
bludgeoned her to death in a remote spot.
Nayana’s body was recovered two days after the brutal crime
from Khed Taluk, 50 km from the city.
“The victim was murdered in cold-blood by criminals who showed
her no mercy. One can only imagine her plight and sheer helplessness while she
was being gangraped in the car. After strangulating her, the killers attempted
to wipe out traces of her identity by attempting to gruesomely disfigure her,”
said Prosecutor Nimbalkar, while urging that no mercy be shown to the three
accused.
The accused trio was brought into the courtroom at 11 a.m. to
hear their final statements. Raut, the cab driver who worked for the IT firm
and was responsible for engineering the abduction of Ms. Pujari, pleaded
innocence by stating that the vehicle used in the crime was not with him on
that fateful day.
Raut said that he had been “wrongly accused” by the approver
Chadhuri. Likewise, Thakur and Kadam told the judge that if they were to be
sentenced, then Chaudhuri, too, must share the punishment.
On Monday, Judge Yenkar, the fourth to hear the case since the
protracted trial commenced in 2011, had pronounced Thakur, Raut and Kadam
guilty under sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy) 361
(kidnapping) along with several other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
For the victim’s husband, Abhijit Pujari and Nayana’s sisters,
Manisha and Madhura, who were present in the courtroom, the judgment had an
emotional effect as the family had grappled with the painful incident for seven
long years. Abhijit said that justice had finally been served with this
sentence.
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