New Delhi, October 4
With six days of the 10-day police remand of Ravi Kant Sharma exhausted, the police is yet to get some critical answers to its queries.

Highly-placed sources in the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police said while Ravi Kant Sharma was cooperating with the interrogators, he had so far successfully evaded or avoided answering some of the crucial questions. Trained as he is in police interrogation, former IG (Prisons) seems to have an upper hand so far.

With the hands of the police tied, they cannot resort to some of the other methods that they normally use on lesser mortals. Since the case has caught the media attention, the police is also videotaping the entire interrogation as a precautionary measure to counter any allegations of high-handedness or torture subsequently.

The sources said even during the face-to-face with another suspect, Ved Parkash, alias Kallu, who is also in police remand, Ravi Kant Sharma was cool and confident. He is reported to have been taken for the face-to-face to Ashoka Hotel here where the alleged conspiracy to eliminate Shivani was hatched.

Ravi Kant Sharma felt irritated if he was questioned for long hours. He had been arrested on the basis of the statement of other suspects, the sources said.

He is reported to have told his interrogators that being a journalist, Shivani used to come to his office and it had nothing to do with the murder case. The documents recovered from Shivani’s Nav Kunj apartment were not given by him. The sources said the police had planned to take him to Mumbai where he had met Shivani, but the plan had been cancelled as only four days were left of his remand and the focus was only on interrogation in the Capital.

“Senior police officers have been regularly reviewing the progress of the interrogation and chalking out new strategies to break Ravi Kant Sharma. These include making him sleep on the floor providing him ordinary meals and treating him like an ordinary criminal.

Suspended Haryana IG, Prison, Ravi Kant Sharma, prime suspect in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, has moved an application before a city court seeking the release of his assets worth nearly Rs 2 crore, including bank accounts, attached by the Delhi police before his surrender.

Metropolitan Magistrate J. P. Narain, before whom the application was moved by Sharma’s counsel Mohit Mathur, issued notice to the police, asking them to file reply by October 8.