Two people had been confirmed the death row by the Bombay High Court after they had been accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 22-year-old BPO employee in Pune in 2007. The High Court had last Wednesday upheld their death sentence.

Purushottam Borate and Pradeep Kokade were both awarded death penalty by a sessions court of Pune in March this year.

They had been charged with section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 364 (kidnapping), 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) among others of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Prosecution had demanded that they both be severely punished and argued that they would not reform. The defense lawyers however had pleaded for clemency as they were never involved in any criminal activities according to the records.

"They had prior knowledge. They conspired the abduction, rape and murder in advance," Revati Dhere had contended.

The victim was an employee working for Wipro BPO at Hijewadi IT park in Pune, had on November 1, 2007 had taken a cab which generally ferried employees of the company for night duty.

Borate the driver along with his friend Kokade had changed the route, took the victim to a secluded area and raped her. She was later strangled to death with her dupatta and the face was disfigured with a sharp weapon to confound the police and conceal the identity. The body was recovered the next day following which the two were arrested.

(AW- Anil)