New Delhi, Oct 29: Eight years after former youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma allegedly murdered his wife Naina Sahni and attempted to burn the body in the "tandoor" of a restaurant in the heart of the national capital, the trial court fixed today for pronouncement of the judgement in the case.
However, additional Sessions Judge G P Thareja added that if it was possible to give the judgement on an earlier date, he would summon the prosecution and the defence for the same.
The prosecution has submitted 62 judgements in support of its case, while the defence cited 32 rulings, the court said, adding it would take at least a month more to study fully each and every judgement.
Final arguments in the sensational case began on July 2 with the prosecution alleging that Sharma had all along tried to keep his marriage with Sahni under wraps.
On August 26, the Judge inspected Ashok Yatri Nivas from where police had allegedly recovered Sahni's burnt body parts on the intervening night of July 2/3, 1995. The trial in the case ended on August 28.



On September 5, the court granted Sharma the option to exercise his right to get back possession of Baghiya Restaurant in Ashok Yatri Nivas here after rejecting an application filed by Hotel Queen Road Private Ltd seeking release of Ashok Yatri Nivas land.



In the chargesheet, the prosecution had listed 99 witnesses but later it dropped 18 of them. However the court recalled six witnesses later taking the total prosecution witnesses to 87 apart from the six court witnesses. About 450 dates were given in the case.



Initially, Additional Sessions Judge V K Khanna was hearing the case at the Patiala House courts. But later it was transferred to the court of Additional Sessions Judge G P Thareja.



When the case was transferred to the court of Additional Sessions Judge V K Jain, the defence appealed to the High Court and got it transferred back to the court of ASJ Thareja.



Though the prosecution moved the Supreme Court against this, the apex court rejected it saying since the case was at its fag end, ASJ Thareja should only decide on the matter.



On August 22, Amicus Curiae P K Dham, who is defending Sharma, wound up his arguments claiming that Sharma was innocent and charges against him were "fabricated".



The counsel said Sharma's name was inserted later in the FIR. Though the Chaudhary couple-- Sharma's "neighbours" at Mandir Marg--had claimed having heard Sharma shouting at Sahni on many occasions, the fact that they had not heard gun shots on the fateful day creates doubts about the charges levelled by the prosecution, dham said.



Prosecution had alleged that Sharma had shot dead Sahni on July 2, 1995 at his Mandir Marg residence, then cut her body into pieces and burnt it in a tandoor at Baghiya open-air restaurant here.



Dham also said there was no evidence to show that Sharma was married to Sahni. Prosecution's claims about Sharma's marriage to Sahni was based on hearsay which was not admissible as evidence, he added.



Co-accused Keshav's counsel V K Ohri told the court that Keshav did not have any role in the killing of Sahni.



Former youth Congress worker and Sahni's close friend Matloob Karim and Sahni's parents had identified her body parts after these were recovered, special public prosecutor A P Ahluwalia said, adding DNA test had also proved the identity of Sahni.


Bureau Report