Pallavi Purkayasta murder: Sajjad Mogul gets one year in jail for jumping furlough

Instead of returning to jail after the furlough, Mogul fled to his native town in Jammu and Kashmir, where he kept changing his look and locations to avoid arrest

A Nashik court on Monday sentenced Sajjad Mogul, a security guard who jumped furlough in 2016 while serving a life sentence for the murder of corporate lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha in Wadala in 2012, to one-year imprisonment for his 18-month escape.

Sajjad Moghul at Arthur Road jail in July 2014. (Hindustan Times)

The court has imposed a fine of ₹5,000 on him, failing to pay which would increase the jail term by two months.

Sajjad Ahmed Abdul Aziz Mogul alias Pathan killed Purkayastha on August 9, 2012, after failing to rape her.

The sessions court sentenced him to life imprisonment in June 2014. Mogul got furlough in February 26 on the pretext of seeing his ill mother.

Furlough is the annual 14-day leave prisoners are eligible to, provided the police give a no-objection certificate. It is granted to attend urgent work and to help the prisoner stay in touch with the outside world and his family.

Instead of returning to jail in March, as was scheduled, Mogul fled to his native town in Jammu and Kashmir, where he kept changing his look and locations to avoid arrest.

Assistant public prosecutor Anil Pundalik Bagale, who represented the state, submitted the evidence documented by investigating officer and assistant inspector Mangesh Nandkishore Majgar.