A court on Friday sentenced Sajal Jain, son of a prominent Delhi businessman and four others, to life imprisonment for the gang rape and suicide of 24-year-old Bijal Joshi in Ahmedabad, five years back.
Bijal had joined boyfriend Sajal at the Ashok Palace Hotel around 10 pm on December 31, 2003, in what she thought would be a simple New Year’s Eve celebration. But Sajal and his friends raped her after downing a few drinks. Unable to bear the trauma, she committed suicide on Jan 7, 2004.
The rapists tried to use their clout to malign Bijal as a call girl who had ‘befriended’ them for money. Money was also allegedly offered to the Joshi family to ‘amicably’ hush up the cases.
Sajal fled to Delhi and got himself admitted in Apollo Millennium Hospital. He was arrested only after Ahmedabad police went to the Capital with a medical team.