M A I N   N E W S

SHIVANI MURDER CASE
Third accused arrested
R. K. Sharma moves Delhi HC for bail
Tribune News Service and Agencies

New Delhi, August 17
The Delhi Police today arrested Satya Prakash, third key accused in the journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) U. K. Katna said Prakash was arrested around 1.30 p.m. from Faridabad.

Meanwhile, the elusive Haryana cadre IPS officer, Mr Ravi Kant Sharma, prime suspect in Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, today moved the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail on the ground that he was being made a ‘scapegoat’ in the case, a day after his wife made sensational allegations against Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan.

The former Haryana IG (Prisons) has moved the high court after failing twice in the lower court, both in Delhi and Panchkula, to secure anticipatory bail.

His move comes on a day when the police claimed to have arrested Satya Prakash, an accused in the case and another accused, Pradeep Sharma, was remanded in judicial custody.

With this the police has arrested three persons involved in the case, almost three years after the murder of the journalist.

The IGP’s counsel Mr Mohit Mathur, who filed an application, said his client was “innocent” and had joined the investigation whenever asked by the Delhi police in the past three years. There was no need for his custodial interrogation, he added.

Mr Mathur said the IPS officer was being implicated in the case on the disclosure statement of the other accused arrested in the case, which was obtained “forcibly” through “coercion”. As such statements are not admissible as evidence, he maintained.

The two arrested persons, Sri Bhagwan and Pradeep, in their statement had said the conspiracy to murder Shivani was hatched by the IGP.

The Delhi court while denying him bail had said evidence so far points an accusing finger at him and his thorough interrogation was required to “unravel the conspiracy”.

Earlier, Pradeep Sharma told the Delhi court that the Delhi police had already picked up Satya Prakash one of the accused but was “hushing up” the matter because of political pressures.

“Satya Prakash was already picked up three days ago and has been lodged in the anti-robbery cell of R.K. Puram police station,” Pradeep Sharma claimed that when he was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate J.P. Narain upon expiry of his police remand.

Remanding Pradeep Sharma to 14 days judicial custody, the local court also allowed his counsel D.B. Goswami to meet his client in the lock-up room at the Karkadooma court complex here.

As soon as he was brought out of the courtroom, Pradeep Sharma said he wanted to talk to the press and cried out “R.K. Sharma.... Pramod Mahajan” even as he was pulled away by the Crime Branch sleuths.

The sensational disclosure by Ms Madhu Sharma, wife of the IPS officer, rocked the entire political spectrum with BJP leaders coming out in defence of Mr Mahajan and the Congress demanding his resignation.

Shivani Bhatnagar, Principal Correspondent of Indian Express, was found strangulated and stabbed to death in her East Delhi apartment on January 23, 1999. Sharma has been evading arrest since he went on leave on August 2, 2002.

Madhu eats her words
Tribune News Service

Madhu Sharma, wife of Ravi Kant Sharma, talks to mediapersons in Panchkula on Saturday. Her younger daughter Komal is also seen in the picture. — PTI photo

She also said that Ravi Kant would surrender if his anticipatory bail application is rejected by the Delhi High Court. The petition was admitted in the court today. “He is not running away from law but exploring all options as he has apprehensions about surrendering before a biased investigating agency. He will surrender before the court,” she said.

Addressing a Press conference at her Sector 6 residence here this evening, Madhu Sharma said it was an intense outburst on August 15 that had prompted her to name Mr Pramod Mahajan. She said her only allegation was that Pramod Mahajan was as much a suspect in the Shivani murder case as her husband — “that if the sole basis of framing my husband is telephone calls made to and from Shivani's number,” she said.

“I have all respect for Mr Mahajan. He has done a lot for the country and I have nothing personal against him. However, the police has to probe his proximity to Ms Bhatnagar because they were in regular touch with each other — just as my husband was. He has himself admitted that he used to meet Shivani at BJP party office as well as his own office,” she said.

Madhu said that since Shivani was a political journalist and was covering the BJP, she could have rubbed a lot many people the wrong way. “Then why has the Delhi police abstained from questioning any political leader,” she asked. Many others (politicians) should have been made to undergo the lie detector test, she added.

She said the Delhi police had fumbled in its investigations. “Why was the professional angle (involvement of some politicians) never looked into by the investigating team? Why were other people not made to undergo a lie detector test?, and, How are telephone calls the sole basis of implicating my husband in the case ?” she asked.

Defending her husband, she said he was not an absconder , nor was he running away from law. “He is just exploring all the legal opportunities available to him. There is no need for him to run away as he has always cooperated with police during the investigation of Shivani murder,” she reiterated.