Overview
- A division bench of Justices Ajey S. Gadkari and Neela K. Gokhale affirmed the life sentence of Sajjad Ahmed Abdul Aziz Mugal alias Sajjad Pathan.
- The court dismissed separate pleas from the Maharashtra government and from Pallavi Purkayastha’s father seeking capital punishment.
- The convict’s appeal challenging the trial court’s verdict was rejected, leaving his conviction and sentence unchanged.
- The 2014 sessions court judgment convicted him under IPC Sections 302, 354 and 449, finding the case fell short of the “rarest of rare” standard for the death penalty.
- According to case records, he cut electricity to her Wadala flat, entered with an electrician, attempted to force himself on her, and fatally stabbed her; he later absconded during 2016 parole before being rearrested.