Thane, Mar 8 (PTI) A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for the rape of a 30-year-old woman in 2017.

Additional sessions judge Vasudha L Bhosale on Friday found the accused, Suresh Pandurang Gosavi (40) and Umesh alias Rakesh Zhala (39), guilty under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Also Read | International Women's Day 2025: PM Narendra Modi Lauds 'Nari Shakti' on Women's Day; To Hand Over His Social Media Accounts to Women Achievers (Watch Video).

The court sentenced them to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 55,000 each.

The accused were also convicted on the charges of kidnapping the victim and robbery and handed them different terms of imprisonment.

Also Read | 'We Bow to Our Nari Shakti': PM Narendra Modi Wishes on International Women's Day 2025 (Watch Video).

The judge, in her order, stated that all the sentences would run concurrently.

The court also ordered that the accused pay Rs 40,000 each to the victim as compensation and referred the case to the DLSA for compensation to the victim as per law.

Additional public prosecutors Varsha Chandane and Rajendra P Patil told the court that on the evening of December 19, 2017, the victim, who was employed as a store manager, was returning home from work when she took Gosavi's cab, and the other accused man was already in the front seat.

The accused drove some distance and halted, claiming the car had a flat tyre that needed to be fixed. The duo proceeded to rob the woman, snatched her jewellery and mobile phone and raped her in the car, the prosecution said.

The men then took her to a lodge, where she raised an alarm, and they abandoned her and fled, they said.

The judge, in her order, noted that the prosecution had successfully proved all charges against the accused, who needed to be convicted and sentenced.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)