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2007 rape case: Preparations underway to execute accused at Yerawada jail
Jyoti Kumar Choudhary (22) was raped and murdered on November 1, 2007.
The preparations are underway at the Yerawada central jail to execute Purshottam Borate (38) and Pradeep Kokade (32) the two convicts facing gallows for rape and murder of a Pune BPO employee.
Jyoti Kumar Choudhary (22) was raped and murdered on November 1, 2007.
An official of Yerawada central jail on condition of anonymity said the officials have identified a hangman and other preparations are underway to execute the duo.
The high court adjourned the matter while hearing a petition by Borate and Kokade on Saturday.
UT Pawar, jail superintendent, said that it is a sensitive matter and he would not comment on the same.
The Pune district and sessions judge had issued a warrant on April 10, 2019, and called for their execution on June 24. The duo will be executed on June 24 if the Bombay high court does not bring a stay or commute their sentence.
They had filed separate petitions seeking to halt their execution and commute their sentence to life imprisonment following which the high court issued a notice to the Central and state governments.
Borate and Kokade have contended that there was an inordinate and avoidable delay of 1,509 days in the execution of the sentence and this is a violation of their fundamental rights.
They approached the high court after a session’s court issued the death warrant scheduling their execution on June 24.
At 10 pm, on November 1, 2007, Choudhary was on her way to work, on the last day of her notice period at Wipro BPO.
Borate, then 26, the company cab driver, who was on cab duty arrived to pick up Jyoti along with his friend Kokade, then 20-years-old. They drove to a secluded spot near Gahunje village where they raped and murdered her. Post committing the crime, the duo proceeded to pick another employee up, stating they were delayed due to a punctured tyre. The duo was arrested the very next day.
A Pune court had convicted the duo in March 2012 and they were sentenced to death. The sentence was later upheld by the Bombay high court, followed by the Supreme Court in 2015.
The President rejected the mercy petition filed by the duo in April 2016.
