JOIN USA bench of justices B D Ahmed and Manmohan absolved two other accused, Sri Bhawgan and Satya Praksh, but upheld the conviction and life term awarded to accused Pradeep Sharma.
The verdict came as a major relief for Sharma who remained in jail for about 10 years.
Rejecting the call detail records produced to connect all the accused with the offence, the court said the Delhi Police had failed to establish the link among them. “The key document Ex.PW135/28 (call detail records) is riddled with so many problems that it cannot be relied upon. Judges, like other human beings, also have suspicions but, judges, unlike others who are free to arrive at their own conclusions, cannot and do not convict on the basis of mere suspicion,” the Bench said. Bhatnagar, a journalist working Indian Express was killed at her flat in East Delhi on January 23, 1999, after being strangled with an electric wire and having sustained stab injuries as well. Sharma, a Haryana Cadre IPS officer, was held in 2001 as the main conspirator for the murder of the woman journalist while three others were arrested as hired killers, who were known to Sharma.
Family relieved
The family of Ravi Kant Sharma, the dismissed Haryana cadre Inspector General of Police (IGP), says it heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday after the Delhi High Court verdict acquitting Sharma of all charges, reports DHNS from Chandigarh. Sharma was lodged in Tihar jail for the over nine years. Sharma’s Chandigarh-based cousin Ramesh Chand Sharma said justice had been done. He said the family had suffered enormously in the last decade. Ramesh said that after the verdict, he spoke to Ravi Kant’s wife Madhu Sharma, who has a bungalow in posh Sector 6 of Panchkula near Chandigarh. “They were thanking the almighty,” he said.