Lawyer murder: 'Pallavi knew that the guard used to ogle her'

Lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha, who was murdered at her flat in suburban Wadala on August 9, allegedly by the security guard of the building, had complained to her live-in partner Avik Sengupta about his roving eye.

Sengupta in his statement to Crime Branch said Pallavi had informed him in July that Sajjad Mughal used to ogle her. "At this, I told her that since she is beautiful he must be staring at her and made light of it", Avik said in the statement.

Mughal (22), a native of Uri in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, was working as a security guard at "Himalayan Heights" in suburban Wadala and is the prime accused in Pallavi's murder.

Pallavi (25), daughter of IAS officer Atanu Purkayastha, a Joint Secretary in Agriculture ministry, was found lying in a pool of blood in her 16th floor apartment of the upscale housing society on August 9.

The Crime Branch had yesterday filed a 434-page charge sheet against Mughal levelling charges of trespassing and murder. Initially, he had been charged with molestation but that charge was dropped in the charge sheet.

According to the statement of Mughal's colleague Khalid Khan, the former had once expressed his desire to have sexual intercourse with Pallavi.

In his statement, Mughal had said he sneaked in Pallavi's flat on August 9 using duplicate keys and tried to force him upon her.

"However when I forced myself upon her, she resisted and started screaming and at this time I assaulted her with my knife that I was already carrying," Mughal had said in his statement.

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