Describing the case as ‘rarest of rare’, Mumbai sessions court on Friday sentenced death for the convict in the rape-murder of Esther Anuhya, a TCS techie who was found dead in January. 39-yr-old Chandrabhan Sanap was convicted for rape and murder of 23-year-old Esther. Chandrabhan was convicted under IPC Section 302 (murder), Section 376 (rape) and Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence).
Esther, who was native of Machilipatnam, was employed as assistant system engineer with TCS at its office in Suburban Goregaon. After celebrating her Christamas holidays at her residence, she was returning to Mumbai on Jan 5, 2015, where Sanap spotted her sitting alone at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla. Pretending to be a cab driver, he offered to drop her off at Andheri on his two-wheeler where he raped and murdered her at an isolated place.
The decomposed body of Anuhya was found off the Eastern Express Highway in suburban Bhandup on January 16, 2014. Sanap was caught in early March, after two months of man hunt.
“The case falls under the category of the rarest of rare, hence the accused is awarded death sentence…He must be hanged by his neck till he is dead,” said Special Women’s court judge Vrushali Joshi pronouncing the verdict.
Jonathan Prasad and Thomas Noble – the father and brother of the 23-year old victim, Esther, welcomed the verdict. “Justice has been done and we are grateful to the police, courts and media for taking up the cause so diligently… It will serve as a deterrent to others,” Prasad told media-persons outside the court.