AP techie murder: SC acquits man on death row, says ‘gaping holes’ in prosecution case

The 23-year-old from Machilipatnam returned to Mumbai on January 5, 2014 and got off a train at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus where she was last seen alive

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted a man on death row noting “gaping holes” in the prosecution case over the alleged murder of a 23-year-old software engineer from Andhra Pradesh.

A three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Viswanathan said it would be extremely unsafe to sustain the conviction against Chandrabhan Sudam Sanap based on the available evidence.

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Over a decade ago, a 23-year-old software engineer from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh returned to Mumbai on January 5, 2014 after a Christmas break and got off a train at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai where she was last seen alive.

After repeated failed attempts to get through to her on the cellphone, the woman’s father lodged a missing complaint.

After frantic searches, which went on for about 10 days, a burnt and decomposed body was found in the bushes near eastern express highway in the Kanjurmarg area. The Mumbai Police crime branch arrested Sanap and charged him for rape and murder of the techie.

His trial ended in a death sentence being awarded to him.

Setting aside the Bombay High Court judgment which upheld his conviction, the top court said the circumstances relied upon when stitched together did not lead to the sole hypothesis of his guilt.

“All the facts cumulatively constrain us to conclude that there are gaping holes in the prosecution story leading to the irresistible conclusion that there is something more than what meets the eye in this case,” it said.

The bench observed the prosecution failed to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt. “Hence, we are constrained to come to the sole irresistible conclusion that the appellant is not guilty of the offences for which he has been charged,” it held.

A special court in 2015 pronounced Sanap guilty and awarded him the death penalty for the rape and murder of the woman employed with a leading IT firm in Mumbai. The High Court in 2018 upheld the death sentence and said it did not see any possibility of reform.

According to the prosecution, on January 5, 2014, the victim reached the railway station in suburban Mumbai from her native in Andhra Pradesh after spending some time with her family.

At around 5 am, it was alleged, she met Sanap outside the station and he offered to drop her to YWCA hostel in suburban Andheri, where she stayed, on his motorbike in return of Rs 300. She agreed, but on the way Sanap took her to a secluded spot near Kanjurmarg, raped and killed her, the prosecution alleged.

He partially burnt her dead body and dumped it in the bushes off the Eastern Express Highway, where it was found by her family on January 14 the same year, it said. Sanap denied all charges.