Pune BPO rape case: Both convicts get death sentence

A Pune court on Tuesday awarded death sentences to two men convicted in the 2007 rape and murder of a BPO employee, prosecutors said. Investigating officer Rajendra Patil told journalists after the court verdict that the convicts driver Purushottam Borade and his friend Pradeep Kokade -- were given death sentence for raping and murdering a 25-year-old woman, Jyotikumari Choudhary, who worked for a call centre of a multi-national company in Pune.However, the verdict can be challenged in a higher court and the convicts have already decided to do so. Their counsel Atul Patil dismissed the charges against Borade and Kokadar and alleged that police had fabricated evidence against them."We shall move the Bombay High Court challenging the death verdict," Patil said.On the night of Nov 1, 2007, the victim was on her way to her office in Hinjewadi on the outskirts of Pune in her office cab, driven by Borade with Kokade sitting beside him.On the pretext of picking up another colleague, they diverted the car to an isolated spot near a bypass on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.They assaulted the victim, raped her, smashed her face with a stone, strangulated her and dumped her body before returning to their office, according to police investigations.