Twenty four-year old Sajjad Pathan, who has been awarded life imprisonment for murdering lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha at her Himalayan Heights housing society in Wadala in 2012, was caught as he had missed train from Mumbai Central. The crime branch officer who got hold of Pathan said luck was not on Pathan's side.
"After we were informed about the incident, we immediately questioned colleagues of Pathan. Shabbir Khan, a security supervisor, had told the police that Pathan had called him and confessed that he had killed Pallavi. Pathan had also asked Shabbir Rs 10,000 as he was short of money," said police inspector Mahesh Tawde, who apprehended Pathan on Aug 10, 2012.
The police then kept Pathan's mobile phone under surveillance. "Pathan had switched off his phone. It was last located in Mumbai Central. We immediately rushed there as we were sure he would board some outstation train. We spotted Pathan near the taxi stand. The moment we caught him, he told us he had missed an outstation train," said Tawde.
Tawde said they wanted good witnesses to build their case against Pathan. "One of the prime witnesses was a neighbour of Pallavi. As per the statement of another colleague of Pathan, Khalid Khan, the two of them had visited Pallavi's 16th floor flat and Pathan asked Pallavi about Avik. Pallavi told Pathan that Avik would come in the morning. A neighbour, who was going to his flat on the same floor around 1.30am, saw Pathan outside Pallavi's residence and had asked him what he was doing there. Pathan had then replied that Avik had called him as the lights had gone off. Pathan then entered Pallavi's house using duplicate keys and killed her. This neighbour was the last person to have seen Pathan before the crime, near the scene of crime," Tawde said.
"According to Khalid's statement, on the night of the incident, Pathan had made lewd comments about Pallavi during a conversation they had, and Khalid had objected to this. Shabbir too had told the police that Pathan had a habit of making lewd comments about girls in the society when he talked with colleagues," Tawde said.
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