The Murder of Pallavi Purkayastha

Pallavi Purkayastha was a 25-year-old corporate lawyer living in the Himalayan Heights apartment building in Wadala, Mumbai. She was found dead in her flat on August 9, 2012. Investigators arrested building security guard Sajjad Ahmed Abdul Aziz Mughal, also reported as Sajjad Pathan, and built a circumstantial and forensic case that later resulted in a murder conviction.

Pallavi Purkayastha

Purkayastha worked as a lawyer in Mumbai. Contemporary reporting identified her as the daughter of civil servants Atanu and Sumita Purkayastha. The criminal case and later appeals focused on the evidence linking the building guard to her apartment and to the killing.

The investigation

Police arrested Mughal the day after the killing. Court reporting described multiple strands of evidence later relied on by prosecutors, including his presence near Purkayastha's flat, recoveries made during the investigation, forensic evidence and the circumstances of his departure from the building after the crime.

The Bombay High Court later emphasized that the prosecution had established a complete chain of circumstances beyond reasonable doubt. This file follows the court findings rather than reproducing untested claims from the earliest days of the investigation.

Trial and conviction

In June 2014, a Mumbai sessions court convicted Mughal under the Indian Penal Code for murder, an offense under Section 354 involving assault or criminal force against a woman, and house-trespass connected to the offense. In July 2014, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The prosecution sought the death penalty, but the trial court concluded the case did not fall within India's “rarest of rare” category. Maharashtra and Purkayastha's father later pursued proceedings seeking a harsher sentence, while Mughal appealed his conviction.

Parole and absconding

Mughal was granted parole in 2016 and failed to return to prison when required. He remained at large for roughly a year and a half before police arrested him again in Jammu and Kashmir in 2017.

His absconding did not alter the murder conviction. It later became a significant factor in the Bombay High Court's decision about how his life sentence should operate.

Bombay High Court ruling in 2025

On November 10, 2025, a division bench of the Bombay High Court upheld Mughal's conviction and rejected his challenge to the trial-court verdict. The court also rejected requests by Maharashtra and Purkayastha's father to convert the sentence to death.

The High Court modified the sentence to make clear that Mughal must remain imprisoned for the remainder of his natural life. Because he had previously absconded while on parole, the court also specified that he would not be entitled to parole or furlough.

The appellate court stated that the circumstantial evidence formed a complete chain establishing guilt beyond reasonable doubt. This 2025 ruling is the latest major adjudicative outcome reflected in this file.

Why the sentencing language matters

A life sentence can interact with statutory remission and temporary-release rules. The High Court's 2025 order was more explicit: it directed imprisonment until the end of Mughal's natural life and barred parole and furlough. The court did not impose the death penalty.

Timeline

1. August 9, 2012
   Pallavi Purkayastha is found dead

   The 25-year-old lawyer is found in her Wadala apartment in Mumbai.

2. August 10, 2012
   Security guard arrested

   Police arrest Sajjad Mughal in connection with the killing.

3. June–July 2014
   Conviction and sentence

   A Mumbai sessions court convicts Mughal of murder and related offenses and sentences him to life imprisonment.

4. 2016
   Parole violation

   Mughal fails to return after being released on parole and becomes a fugitive.

5. 2017
   Recaptured

   Police locate and arrest him again in Jammu and Kashmir after roughly a year and a half.

6. November 10, 2025
   Bombay High Court

   The High Court upholds the conviction, rejects the death-penalty requests and directs imprisonment for the remainder of Mughal's natural life with no parole or furlough.

Current status

Solved / adjudicated. Sajjad Mughal's murder conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court in November 2025. His operative sentence is imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life, without parole or furlough under the High Court's order.