A Mumbai Sessions Court on Thursday sentenced to death the 25-year-old man who threw acid on Delhi resident Preethi Rathi and killed her in 2013, ANI reported. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had sought capital punishment for Ankur Panwar after the court had convicted him of murder.

Panwar had attacked Rathi on May 2, 2013, at Mumbai's Bandra Terminus. She had just reached the city to join the Indian Navy as a nurse. Defence lawyers had argued against the murder charge, saying Rathi had died a month later because of medical negligence. However, Nikam had argued that she had succumbed to the wounds she sustained in the acid attack and died of multiple organ failure. Nikam also said Panwar's call records proved he had travelled in the same train as Rathi and was at the station at the time of the attack.

Panwar was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch on January 17, 2014. According to The Times of India, Panwar had assaulted Rathi, his neighbour, after she refused to marry him. However, an NDTV report said he had acted out of jealousy as his family had taunted him for being unemployed while praising her achievements. The police had said Panwar wanted to "deface Rathi so she would never get a job again".