‘Esther offered rapist 2L to spare her life’

S Ahmed Ali TNN

March 8, 2014
Mumbai: Murdered techie Esther Anuhya had made desperate pleas to Chandrabhan Sanap, the arrested accused, even offering him Rs 2 lakh to spare her life. “I beg you to let me go. Take whatever cash is on me, but allow me to go. I can manage Rs 1 or 2 lakh and give it to you later, but for God’s sake let me go,” these were her last words to Sanap after he sexually assaulted her in the bushes at Kanjurmarg.
    But her pleas made no impact on him, Sanap said in his confession after three days of interrogation. P 7

Esther’s clothes, specs found, sent for analysis

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: Almost two months after software engineer Esther Anuhya (23) was sexually assaulted and murdered, the police claim to have found evidence that could nail the accused, Chandrabhan Sanap (28). They claim to have recovered Anuhya’s clothes and spectacles from an eatery owned by Sanap’s sister. The articles have been sent to the forensic laboratory to retrieve DNA samples of Anuhya and Sanap, who was arrested from his Nashik home last week.
    “The police have sought the help of expert divers to recover Anuhya’s laptop which Sanap claimed to have thrown in Kadavli river near Titwala. He told police that while travelling to Nashik in train, he tried to operate the laptop. But when he saw his picture on the screen as she had installed a facial recognition software, he got scared and flung it into the river,” an officer said.
    On January 5, at 4am, a drunk Sanap came to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus with theft on his mind. He allegedly targeted Anuhya, who had arrived in the city after spending Christmas in her hometown in Andhra Pradesh, by posing as a taxi driver. Giving his cellphone number and vehicle number, he sweet-talked her into being dropped to her hostel in Andheri on his bike. But at the Kanjurmarg mangroves, barely two km from where he used to live, he attacked her. “As he used to live in Karve Nagar adjoining the highway, he knew the area well,” said an officer.
    Sanap told his interrogators that he had slapped Anuhya and she started bleeding. “He threatened her with dire consequences if she failed to agree to his demands,” the officer said. Anuhya reportedly begged him to let her go and promised to give him Rs 2 lakh if he spared her life. “I beg you to let me go. Take whatever cash is on me, but allow me to go. I can manage one or two lakhs rupees and give you later, but for God’s sake let me go,” she reportedly told Sanap after he sexually assaulted her. But Sanap strangled her and later burnt her body.
    On Friday, Anuhya’s father S Prasad met Sadanand Date, joint commissioner of police (crime). “I showed him the corroborating evidence and he was satisfied with the progress of the investigation,” said Date.
Techie had tried to catch tea vendor’s attention: Police C handrabhan Sanap told the police that Esther Anuhya had tried to raise an alarm and catch the attention of a roadside tea vendor near Sahakar Theatre. “Sanap threatened the vendor,” a police officer said. The police have traced the vendor and recorded his statement.
    Sanap told the police that through the bike’s side mirror, he saw Anuhya fidget with her cellphone as if she was texting someone. Initially, it was believed that she had no talk time left, but joint commissioner of police (crime) Sadanand Date said, “She had two SIM cards. While one card was out of talk time, there was some balance in the other, but no calls were made.” They are clueless why she failed to make an emergency call to her family members or the police. TNN