The Bombay High Court is expected to begin the final hearing into an appeal filed by the convict in the Esther Anuhya rape and murder case.
Chandrabhan Sanap, who was convicted for raping and murdering the 23-year-old techie, had challenged the death penalty awarded to him by a special court on October 30, 2015.
A Division Bench headed by Justice N.H, Patil has posted the appeal for hearing on August 28. The court will start hearing the matter on a daily basis.
The trial court had observed that the case fell under the ‘rarest of rare’ category. The State government has also filed a petition seeking confirmation of the death sentence. Teh petition will be heard along with Sanap’s appeal.
According to the prosecution, Anuhya, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh, had returned to the city on January 5, 2014, after visiting her family in Machilipatnam. After arriving at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla she met Sanap who offered to drop her at her hostel in Andheri for ₹300.
Sanap then raped and murdered her. He tried to get rid of the body by hiding it in the bushes along the Eastern Express Highway in Bhandup.
After a search, Anuhya’s family found her body on January 16, 2014. Sanap was arrested in March that year and charged with murder, rape, kidnapping and other charges.