02 January,2015 12:18 PM IST | | Sailee Dhayalkar
A prime witness in Esther Anuhya rape and murder case who saw the accused before the crime at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, deposes in the Sessions court in Mumbai
A prime witness in the Esther Anuhya murder case who saw the accused before the crime, deposed in the City Sessions court on Thursday. The 41-year-old witness is a worker at a trolley shop at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT). Chandrabhan Sanap, who allegedly murdered the Hyderabad techie, came to his shop to buy a cold drink.
Also read: Esther Anuhya murder - How a mobile thief became a brutal killer
Esther Anuhya went missing from LTT on January 5, 2014. Her family found her charred remains on January 16 near Tata Nagar Colony in Bhandup (East). Police nabbed the accused Chandrabhan Sanap, a former porter at LTT, with the help of CCTV footage
On Thursday, the worker who deposed in court said, "I have been working at a trolley shop of Kurla Terminus from January 1, 2014 on platform number 4-5, from where the train goes in the direction of Kalyan. I open the shop around 4:15 am.
On January 5, 2014, I opened my shop between 4:15 am and 4:30 am and after 10 minutes a man (Sanap) came to my shop and asked for a cold drink and gave me Rs 100. I gave him R60 back saying that the bottle was for Rs 34 and asked for Rs 4 change to which he said he doesn't have any.
Even I said I don't have any. He started arguing and abusing me. To end the argument, I somehow managed to give him Rs 6 with money from my pocket and from the drawer. After that he walked toward the end of the platform." He added, "As he was the first person to come to the shop that day and he argued and abused me; I can very well identify him."
He also identified Sanap in court during video conference. Defence lawyer Prakash Salsingikar said, "There are a total of 76 witnesses in the list given by police and we have examined around 17 of them. On Thursday it was the 41-year-old who is the 18th witness.
He was one of the prime witnesses as Sanap purchased a cold drink from him just before he met Esther Anuhya." He added, "During the cross examination when I asked the witness where he stays, he said on the platform. To that when I said isn't it illegal to stay on the platform, that too without permission, he agreed."
