Pallavi killer, who jumped parole, nabbed
The killer of Mumbai advocate Pallavi Purkayastha, who had jumped parole last year, has been arrested from Srinagar-Leh highway.
Sajjad Mughal, alias Pathan, who was sentenced to life term in jail in 2014, left a Nashik prison in March last year on the plea that he wanted to visit his unwell mother. He never returned after his 30-day parole was over.
Twenty-five-year-old pallavi was assaulted in her own apartment at Wadala in central Mumbai. Mughal worked as a watchman in the building and had used a stolen key to sneak into her apartment; he tried to rape her and when she fought back, he stabbed her repeatedly. The Nashik police had registered a case against Mughal under Section 224 of the Indian Penal Code for breaching his parole norms.
According to Datta Padsalgikar, Mumbai Police Commissioner, "A team was formed to nab the accused; they had traced him in Srinagar. Under the supervision of Sanjay Nikumbh, Mughal was arrested on Tuesday morning. The team had visited the state four times but was able to nab him only now. For the past one week, our team was constantly monitoring his movements in Srinagar."
Mughal had been changing his appearance and kept changing his locations, too.
According to Sanjay Saxena, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, "We do not have any information about him crossing over the border in the last one year. It was easy for him to evade arrest since he was in familiar surroundings and among friends. We shall be interrogating him regarding his accomplices who may have helped him to evade arrest."
The news of his disappearance had caused a furore with questions being asked about the procedure for granting furloughs to convicts. The then prison superintendent of Nashik prison, BK Upadhyaya, was eventually suspended by the state government.
The case has been transferred to the Nashik police. Pallavi's father was informed about the arrest and he was moved to tears.