Suspended Haryana IGP Ravi Kant Sharma was Monday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for conspiring to murder Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar on January 23, 1999.

Additional Sessions Judge Rajendra Kumar Shastri said, “Sharma has been awarded life imprisonment. Sharma has an excellent service record as a police officer and extreme penalty is not needed in this case.”

The court also awarded life term to other convicts — Sri Bhagwan Sharma, Pradeep Sharma and Satya Prakash. The judge imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Sharma and Rs 10,000 each on others.

On March 18, the sessions court had held Sharma guilty of hatching the conspiracy to murder Shivani, who had threatened to expose the suspended IPS officer for providing classified documents to her, nine years ago.

Acquitted

Two accused — Ved Prakash Sharma and Ved Prakash alias Kalu — were acquitted for want of evidence.
Special Public Prosecutor S K Saxena had sought death penalty for R K Sharma and Pradeep. The prosecution had also sought life imprisonment for Sri Bhagwan and Satya Prakash.

R K Sharma’s counsel S P Minocha had said, “Just because, a journalist was allegedly killed by an IPS officer, it does not constitute an offence falling under the rarest of rare category calling for the maximum punishment.”

Meanwhile, advocate D B Goswami of Pradeep Sharma said all the convicts would challenge the order before the Delhi High Court.

Sharma, a 1976-batch IPS officer, along with Pradeep Sharma, Sri Bhagwan and Satya Prakash was convicted on March 18 for plotting journalist Shivani’s murder in her east Delhi apartment on January 23, 1999.

After the arrest of Pradeep and Satya Prakash, R K Sharma went underground. On September 27, 2002, R K Sharma surrendered before a court in Ambala after being on the run for more than 45 days.

Shivani Bhatnagar was a British Chevening scholarship recipient and alumni of Jawaharlal Nehru
University.