A sessions court sentenced a 28-year-old naval officer to life imprisonment for killing his girlfriend.
Manish Thakur, an employee of Aeronautical Wing of the Indian Navy, had been arrested in May 2007 by Mumbai police in Goa for murdering his girlfriend and employee of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Kaushumbi Layek. He was arrested when he was serving in INS Hansa.
24-year-old Layek was found murdered with two bullet injuries and her body was found in ‘Sun and Sheel Hotel’ in Andheri in western Mumbai in the wee hours of May 14, 2007.
According to the prosecution, Thakur had gone to Vasco in Goa after the incident and at the time of his arrest he had gone for advanced training in INS Hansa.
The prosecution told the court that Thakur killed her because the Layek refused to marry him. According to prosecution Takur was already married and he had hidden this fact from Layek.
When Layek came to know about his marriage, she started avoiding him, due to which there would be regular fights between the two. Layek had also stopped receiving Thakur’s calls.
The prosecution argued in the court that a day prior to the incident Thakur convinced her to come to the hotel and then committed the crime.
Interestingly, in the deposition of Thakur’s wife, she had put the entire blame on Layek. She had told the court that it was Layek, who used to call him regularly and she (Layek) had even told her that she should divorce Thakur.
In the court, during the trial, the prosecution examined 29 witnesses to prove their case including the sanctioning officer while the defence lawyers examined 6 witnesses.
Accepting the prosecution’s case, the judge D W Deshpande convicted Thakur.
Thakur said, “I was expecting this and was prepared for this (the sentence).”
He said he would now approach the high court.
