The Maharashtra Home department has suspended the then-prison superintendent of Nashik prison for granting parole to convict Sajjad Mogul, who was serving a life sentence in the sensational Pallavi Purkayastha murder case, who later went missing.
Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) BK Upadhyaya said that the suspension order of the then jail superintendent JS Naik was signed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis last evening.
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Based on the report of Deputy Inspector General (Jails) Rajendra Dhamne, who headed a probe into the incident, the Home department has decided to suspend Naik with immediate effect. He committed a grave error in granting parole to Mogul.BK Upadhyaya, Additional Director General of Police (Prisons)
Naik was given charge of Amravati jail a few weeks ago. According to a source in the Home department, Naik was already facing a departmental inquiry for granting furlough to two persons who were convicted in terrorism-related charges, and had escaped while out on leave.
As per the jail manual, furlough is not granted to those who are convicted under such charges.
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Mogul, a native of Jammu and Kashmir, had sought parole citing his mother’s ill health in February, which was granted as per due procedure. He had then sought an extension of two months, Nashik Central Jail Superintendent Ramesh Kamble had earlier said. The jail authorities informed Nashik Road Police that Mogul did not return after completion of his parole, following which a complaint was lodged against him on 28 April.
Corporate lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha (25) was murdered by Mogul on 9 August 2012 at her apartment, after he made advances towards her, which she resisted. Mogul was employed as a watchman in the building. He had managed to get a duplicate key of the main door of Pallavi’s house where she lived with her fiancé, Avik Sengupta. Avik found her body lying in a pool of blood when he returned home on the fateful day. A little over a year, he had also died of a brain disorder. A local court had sentenced Mogul to life imprisonment in 2014.
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