Shivani Bhatnagar murder: Former police officer R K Sharma acquitted

Former senior police officer R.K.Sharma , after spending nine years in jail is finally set to walk free. The Delhi High Court has acquitted him and two others in the 1999 murder of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar and ordered their release.

Ruling on an appeal made by the accused against a trial court order of 2008 sentencing them to life imprisonment, the Delhi High Court stated that the quality of evidence before them is not of a high caliber. Judges like other human beings also have suspicion. The prosecution has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The accused get the benefit of doubt.

The court has only upheld the decision of one of the four men who was awarded life sentence by the trial court – a hit man, Pradeep Sharma. The judge said that though the motive behind Pradeep Sharma killing Ms. Bhatnagar was unclear, and they found that he was person who killed her.

The prosecution has said that it will go for appeal in the Supreme Court against today's High Court verdict.

R.K. Sharma, former police officer, has been in Tihar Jail ever since he surrendered to Delhi Police in September 2002. The police accused him for the murder of journalist Ms. Bhatnagar. She was found dead in her apartment in East Delhi on January 23, 1999. Her two-month old son was with her when she was murdered – her body bore stab wounds and strangulation marks. She had reportedly met Mr. Sharma while covering the Prime Minister's office.

In March 2008, a Delhi High Court held Mr. Sharma guilty of hiring hit men to murder the journalist because he was worried that she would go public with details of their relationship. The same judge said that the police officer did not deserve the death penalty because of his excellent service record. The court had sentenced Mr. Sharma, Pradeep Sharma, Bhagwan Sharma and Sathya Prakash to life imprisonment. In the High Court, Mr. Sharma's lawyer had argued that the evidence against him was largely circumstantial, and has been tampered with by the Delhi Police to implicate the former police officer. The police officer, on the other hand, contended that Mr. Sharma used his position so as to influence the witnesses and to rescue himself from the case.

News reported by AR for newsvision