Thane youth gets life in jail for brutally killing girlfriend in 2007

A 25-year-old youth was today awarded life sentence by a local court for brutally killing his girlfriend in 2007.

Principle district and sessions judge KK Sonawane found Prashant Prabhakar Pawar guilty of murdering Sushma Sadanand Nikam, 21, after their relationship turned sour.

The convict was also fined Rs5,000.

Pawar was an insurance agent, while Nikam worked in an establishment in Amargyan Industrial Estate in Khopat area of the city. Both stayed in the same locality, Chirag Nagar.

According to the prosecution, the family members of the victim were opposed to their affair and asked her to end the relationship with Pawar.

Nikam started avoiding Pawar, which angered the latter. On June 23, 2007 Pawar accosted the girl near her office when she arrived for work at around 9 am. He attacked her with a knife as many as 30 times, the prosecution said.

The badly injured girl was taken to the Sion Hospital, where she told her parents that she was attacked by Pawar. Nikam died two weeks later, it said.

A press photographer, Anil Shinde, was among the witnesses examined by the court.