2014 rape-murder of techie in Mumbai: SC rejects CCTV footage, witness testimonies relied upon by lower courts

The victim had returned to Mumbai after a vacation in her hometown on January 5, 2014, by an early morning train to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) railway station.

The police had claimed that Sanap, who was then 29, had offered to drop her and on the way, took her to a secluded area along a highway and then raped and killed her by smothering her and then burned her body with petrol, to destroy evidence.

On October 30, 2015, the sessions court had found Sanap guilty of charges including murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery and sentenced to death. The court had said that it was taking into account that Sanap had not acted spur of the moment but that it was a case of pre-planned murder.

The Bombay High Court on December 20, 2018 confirmed the death penalty, stating that the victim was “done to death by the accused for no fault of her own, except for a reason that she is a woman”.

What did the courts say about the evidence in the case?

The Supreme Court, Bombay HC and sessions court all concluded that the dead body found in a decomposed and burnt state on the Eastern Express Highway on January 16, 2014, was that of the 23-year-old victim, based on identification by her father and DNA test.

All three courts relied on the opinion of the doctor who had conducted the post-mortem and concluded that the victim had died due to a head injury and smothering.

The opinion on other evidence, however, differed.

CCTV footage

One of the crucial evidence relied on by the police was the CCTV footage from the railway station around 5.30am, on January 5, 2014.

The police had claimed that according to the CCTV footage, a woman can be seen holding a phone to her ear, and one person pulling her trolley bag.

The victim’s father had identified her from the footage and other witnesses had identified Sanap to be the person pulling her trolley bag.
While the sessions court and high court both relied on the CCTV footage stating that the technical procedure was followed, the SC said that it cannot be relied upon at all as the police did not get a certificate under the Indian Evidence Act to prove the electronic evidence.

The high court had called the CCTV footage the “axis of the whole chain of circumstances”. The SC, however, said that the evidence showed that the records in the servers were deleted after a month but the police had claimed to have retrieved the CCTV footage after a month, which was not explained.

Witnesses who ‘saw’ victim and accused together

The sessions court had also relied on the evidence of a pre-paid taxi booth supervisor and an in-charge of the “pay-and-park” facility, who had claimed to have seen the accused and the victim together.

The “pay-and-park” facility witness had said that he remembered the accused as he had an argument with him over the parking charges. The sessions court said that this corroborates the CCTV.

However, the apex court said that they were not reliable as their statements were recorded after over two months and it was “unnatural” for either of them to remember the accused based on a brief, chance encounter.

It said that they had also given ‘identical detailed descriptions’ of Sanap’s height and clothes, which was surprising.

Extra-judicial confession

The sessions court had also largely relied on an extra-judicial confession by one of Sanap’s acquaintance, whose bike he had borrowed to pick up the victim on the day of the incident.

The person had deposed that Sanap had taken him to the spot of the crime, as he had used up the petrol in the bike to destroy evidence, and the vehicle could not be driven back. The Supreme Court said that there was no corroboration to this evidence.

It also said that police had claimed that a horoscope was found in the back pocket of Sanap during his arrest and he had visited a person to perform puja, saying that he had committed a sin against a woman.

The sessions court said that the police would not fabricate such evidence. The Supreme Court said that it was discarding the evidence as it had nothing to do with the commission of the crime.

Recovery of victim’s belongings

The police also said that after Sanap’s arrest he had led them to the recovery of victim’s belongings. The police claimed that Sanap had given away the bag of the victim to a beggar in Nashik and the victim’s identity card was found in his sister’s room.

The sessions court considered the recovery made at the behest of the accused.

The SC, however, said that the beggar was threatened with arrest and made to sign a document while it said that it was intriguing why the accused’s sister will preserve an identity card two months after the incident.