Special court to hear Pallavi Purkayastha murder case

The special court which tries cases related to crime against women will hear the high- profile murder case of city-based lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha.
The development comes after the crime branch decided that the case ought to be heard by the special court presided by Judge P V Ganediwala.
Sajjad Mughal (22), the accused in the case relating to the murder of Pallavi Purkayastha, a native of Jammu and Kashmir, was employed as a security guard at 'Himalayan Heights' in suburban Wadala, where he allegedly killed the 25-year-old victim on August 9 last year, which the police said, was motived due to his 'advances being resisted' by her.

Earlier, the police had claimed that Mughal allegedly ogled at the victim, who was an advisor to movie-maker Farhan Akhtar's company Excel Entertainment Pvt Ltd, and also the daughter of IAS officer Atanu Purkayastha, a joint secretary in the Agriculture Ministry.
Meanwhile, a local magistrate court transferred the case, where a 27-year-old Spanish musician was raped by a burglar at knife point, to the special court today.
In this case, Mohammed Badshah Ansari, alias Mohammed Ismail Ansari, faces charges of forcing his entry into the flat of the victim, a musician, and allegedly raping her, after robbing her at knife point.

The police recently filed a chargesheet in the case after the victim identified Ansari as her rapist during an identification parade.
After he was arrested on November 6 last year, Ansari was booked for various offences including Sections 452 (house trespass), 392 (robbery), 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Ansari was arrested on October 27 last year in a robbery case at the residence of actor Dino Morea but managed to secure bail and took to crime again.