New Delhi, November 5
The Special Public Prosecutor in the “tandoor” murder case today sought death sentence from the trial court for convicted former Delhi Youth Congress president Sushil Sharma, found guilty of killing his wife Naina Sahani even as the arguments on the point of sentence were deferred for tomorrow due to commotion in the court room.
Public Prosecutor A.P Ahluwalia, the veteran of Indira Gandhi murder case, who was engaged specially by the Delhi Police to conduct trial in this case, told Additional Sessions Judge (ASG) G.P Thareja that death sentence would be the only possible punishment for the convict as the case fell in the “rarest of the rare category”.
Mr Thareja had convicted Sharma on Monday for the murder of his wife Naina, also a city Congress worker, on July 2, 1995 and then trying to destroy the dead body in the “tandoor” of a restaurant, run by him on contract in an ITDC hotel in the Capital’s VIP area.
The court had also found restaurant manager Keshav Kumar guilty of helping Sharma in burning the body in a bid to destroy the evidence and of criminal conspiracy. But he was acquitted of the murder charge.
“Sharma was an influential person and had exploited the situation vis-a-vis the victim (Naina) for no fault on her part... the accused instead of taking her body to crematorium for the last rites, took it for burning in the tandoor,” Mr Ahluwalia said in his arguments, which were disrupted due to commotion created inside the court room and outside it by lawyers and a few demonstrators.
The prosecutor said the seriousness of the crime was evident from the fact that Sharma after the murder had not shown any remorse for his action.
Expressing anguish over the disturbances created inside the court room and outside it, Mr Thareja directed the Delhi Police Commissioner not to allow any demonstration outside the Tis Hazari court complex.
The ASJ further directed the Police Commissioner to regulate the entry of litigants, lawyers and mediapersons for tomorrow’s hearing to ensure that its proceedings were not disrupted.
Meanwhile, according to a UNI report Mr Thareja said the court would allow one person each from media organisations and only 50 advocates inside the courtroom.
The Bar President would be consulted in this regard, he added.
Outside the Tis Hazari court premises, the BJP workers, MLAs, councillors and activists of the women’s wing had gathered to press for capital punishment for the killers of Naina Sahni.
The protest was led by the leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Prof Jagdish Mukhi, and Leader of the Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Subhash Arya.
