Call centre staff raped, murdered in Pune

Jyotikumari Choudhary, a 22-two-year-old employee of a Wipro BPO based in Pune’s IT hub Hinjewadi, was allegedly raped and murdered by the firm’s driver and his friend on Thursday night.

Jyotikumari Choudhary, a 22-two-year-old employee of a Wipro BPO based in Pune’s IT hub Hinjewadi, was allegedly raped and murdered by the firm’s driver and his friend on Thursday night. The driver Purushottam Borate (26) and his friend Pradeep Yashwant Kokade (20) were arrested and have been charged with rape and murder of Jyotikumari.

The incident came to light on Saturday after a team of Chatushrungi police, along with the victim’s family, identified the body of Jyotikumari. The rural police had recovered the body on Friday morning from Gahunge village near Talegaon Dabhade, about 35 km from Pune. However, they could not establish the identity.

“It’s the most heinous murder. We found the body at Gahunge village that falls under the Wadgaon-Maval police station. The case has been transferred to rural police from city as the crime took place in the jurisdiction of the rural police,” Additional SP (Pune Rural) Pravin Patil said.

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According to the police, the victim’s brother-in-law had lodged a “missing person’s complaint” with Chatushrungi police around 4 pm on Friday after the family received a call from the victim’s Delhi-based sister that a Bangalore-based friend was desperately trying to get in touch with Jyotikumari after her call was abruptly disconnected.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone III) Chandrashekhar Daithankar said: “The duo raped and then strangulated her with a scarf. They smashed her head with stones and fled. The body had deep strangulation marks on neck and injuries on hand and legs. Moreover, the circumstantial evidence and clothes recovered from the scene of crime point towards sexual assault before the murder, but medical report confirming it were awaited.”

According to the police, Choudhary had left her residence around 10 pm on Thursday and did not return by 10 am on Friday, her scheduled arrival time at home. Her family members approached the police and lodged a complaint with Chatushringi police around 4 pm on Friday.

The victim held a BSc degree and hailed from Gorakhpur. She was staying with her sister in Pashan since 2001.

Deeply disturbing: Wipro BPO chief

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Wipro BPO president TK Kurien said: “There has been a criminal manipulation of our processes. In the past couple of years, we had put down several processes in place including no first pick-up or last drop of female employees, compulsory rosters for every cab, ongoing education of all employees on personal safety and precautions to be followed during late night travel. Unfortunately, even the most secure of processes do get manipulated and we are deeply disturbed by what has happened. We have initiated an immediate effort to audit and further tighten all our processes, especially concerning the safety of our employees and this will be personally reviewed by me.”

The police said the trio from Chandigarh — Rohan (21), Sumit (22), and Mohit (19) — were dhol players by profession and had procured the weapons due to an old rivalry with local residents.

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