Ravi Kant Sharma gets life term in Shivani Murder case

It is once again proved that hands of justice are longer than crime’s as after nine years, R K Sharma gets the dose of his own medicine. The Karkardooma Court in Delhi today pronounced life terms for R K Sharma including the other three accused in nine years old Shivani murder case.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on R K Sharma while Rs 10,000 on other three including Sri Bhagwan Sharma, Pradeep Sharma and Satya Prakash.

The court did not awarded death penalty to Sharma considering his background with no criminal past and that it did not fit into the ‘rarest of rare case’ definition. The Bench said: "It cannot be said to be a rarest of rare case”.

Earlier on March 18, the four were held guilty of formulating the conspiracy to murder Shivani Bhatnagar, who was then a correspondent of Indian Express and had threatened to expose Sharma.

It is alleged that the other three co-accused helped accomplishing Sharma’s plan to execute Shivani.

The court has acquitted other two accused Ved Prakash Sharma and Ved alias Kallu in the want of the evidences.

Shivani was found murdered in her Navkunj Apartments in East Delhi on January 23, 1999. According to her sister Shivanti, Shivani was upset because of Sharma’s lack of interest in her and she threatened Sharma of exposing him for he has leaked secret St Kitts case document to her when he was posted as Officer on Special Duty in Prime Minister’s Office in 1997.

Reportedly after her murder the document were handed to police by Shivani’s husband Rakesh Bhatnagar.

Also the charge sheet prepared by Delhi police said that Sharma planned her killing to save his job after he was threatened by her. The charge sheet also mentioned intimate relation between the two.

Her gold chain also provided a necessary clue in the case which was recovered from one of the accused and was identified by Shivani’s husband.

Bhartiya Janta Party leader Pramod Mahajan’s name was also linked with Shivani’s murder but was later given clean chit by Delhi police.

The prosecution examined 209 witnesses out of which 51 turned hostile; the prosecution also went through the phone call record between Sharma with Shivani as well as with the other co-accused.