Pallavi Purkayastha’s killer Sajjad Mogul nabbed near Srinagar
MUMBAI: After being on the run for more than 18 months, Sajjad Mogul, the security guard convicted for murdering 25-year-old advocate Pallavi Purkayastha in 2012, was finally arrested by the Mumbai crime branch in Gagangiri village, about 50km from Srinagar.
Mogul had jumped parole in February 2016 from Nashik jail and had been absconding since.
Commissioner of police (Mumbai) DD Padsalgikar said a special team formed under police inspector Sanjay Nikam had gone to the state 4-5 times to arrest Mogul, but he always managed to escape.
The police said Mogul told them he could not sleep and always had the fear they would catch him.
“He was hiding near Srinagar for more than a year,” Padsalgikar said. Pallavi’s father Atanu was informed by Padsalgikar about the development.
According to police officers, Mogul had changed his looks and had been constantly on the move. The special team, however, recruited informers in J&K, who helped them get trace Mogul.
Mogul was brought to the city on Tuesday night and is likely to be questioned further.
While he has been convicted to life imprisonment by a trial court, the state has moved the high court seeking a death sentence.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2014 and was lodged in the Nashik central jail. Sources said Mogul applied for parole on grounds that his mother was unwell. He was granted parole in February 2016 on the condition that he would report to a local police station in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
Sources said he did not report to the jail by the end of May, after which the prison department filed a case at the Nashik road police station.
Purkayastha, daughter of an IAS officer, was found murdered at her residence by her boyfriend Avik Sengupta who was residing with her at an apartment at Wadala. She was found dead in her 16th floor apartment in Wadala’s Himalayan Heights on August 9, 2012.
Mogul was arrested the next day. According to the police, Mogul wanted to establish a physical relationship with Purkayastha. He tried to rape her, but when she fought him off, he murdered her.
Mogul’s blood-stained clothes, the knife used for the murder, the post-mortem report, call records of five cellular service providers, chemical analysis and the DNA report of his hair, skin and blood samples proved his complicity in the crime.