Techie murder case: Final hearing on appeal to begin soon

The Bombay High Court is expected to commence soon the final hearing into an appeal filed by Chandrabhan Sanap, convicted in the Esther Anuhya rape and murder case, challenging the death penalty awarded to him by a special court last year.
A division bench, headed by Justice N H Patil, has posted the appeal for hearing on August 28 and said that the court would start hearing the matter on a daily basis.
A special court had on October 30, 2015, convicted Sanap for raping and murdering 23-year-old Anuhya, a city-based software professional, after picking her up from suburban Lokmanya Tilak Terminus under the false promise of dropping her off to her hostel in Andheri.

The trial court had observed that the case falls under the 'rarest of rare' category.
The state government has also filed a petition seeking confirmation of the death sentence which will be heard along with Sanap's appeal.
According to the prosecution, Anuhya, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh, had returned to the city on January 5, 2014, after visiting her family in Machilipatnam.

After arriving at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in suburban Kurla, she met Sanap who offered to drop her home in Andheri for Rs 300.
Sanap then raped and murdered her and tried to get rid of the body by hiding it in the bushes along the Eastern Express Highway in Bhandup.

After a search, Anuhya's family found her body on January 16, 2014. Sanap was arrested in March that year.
Sanap was charged with murder, rape, kidnapping and other charges.