New Delhi, Nov 03: A Delhi court today held former youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma guilty of killing his wife Naina Sahni and burning her body in the Tandoor (oven) of a restaurant here on July 02, 1995. Additional sessions judge G P Thareja also held his accomplice and restaurant manager Keshav Kumar guilty of conspiring with Sharma in his attempts to dispose of the body in the Tandoor of the Baghiya restaurant at the ITDC-owned Ashok Yatri Niwas in the heart of the capital.
However, the court acquitted the other three accused Jai, Prakash Pehlwaan Rishi Raj Rathi and Ram Prakash Sachdeva of charges of harbouring Sharma for want of evidence.
The court will hear arguments on sentence on Wednesday.
ASJ Thareja also directed the chief metropolitan magistrate to prosecute senior IAS officer D K Rao, the then resident commissioner of Gujarat Bhawan for allegedly harbouring Sharma after the gruesome murder.
Thareja also asked the Gujarat Chief Secretary to take appropriate administrative steps against the employees of Gujarat Bhawan here for "dereliction of duty".
According to the police, after the murder, Sharma had stayed with his IAS friend D K Rao at Gujarat Bhawan that particular night and fled to Jaipur the next day.
From there, Sharma went to Mumbai and later Chennai and got anticipatory bail. A police team led by Additional Commissioner of Police Maxwell Pereira flew to Chennai. But Sharma escaped to Bangalore, where he surrendered on July 10, 1995. Thereafter he was arrested and brought to Delhi.
While Sharma was convicted under Section 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destroying evidence) of IPC, Keshav, who got acquitted of the murder charge, was found guilty under Section 201 and section 120-B of IPC.
"Charge under Section 302 against accused Sushil Sharma for causing murder of Naina Sahni is proved beyond doubt. Accused Sushil is held guilty and convicted under section 302, IPC," the court said.
"Charge of criminal conspiracy to cause disappearance of evidence of murder stands proved against both accused Sushil and Keshav. Both accused are held guilty and convicted under Section 120-B and 201 read with 120-B, IPC," the court said in its 254-page judgment.
However, the court acquitted the other three accused saying the charge under Section 212 (harbouring the accused) was not established.
According to the police, Sharma killed his wife as he had doubts over her fidelity. He believed Naina was maintaining an affair with her classmate and fellow Congress worker Matloob Karim.
Sharma bashed Sahni up on many occasions, police alleged. Besides, while Sharma wanted to keep his marriage with Sahni a secret affair, she asked him to make it public.
On the fateful night of July 2, 1995, Sharma, who reached his flat at Mandir Marg in the heart of the capital, he saw Sahni consuming liquor and talking to someone on the telephone, police alleged.
Seeing him, she put down the receiver. Sharma doubted that she was chatting with Karim and redialled the number, police alleged, adding his doubts were confirmed when karIm responded at the other end.
A furious Sharma took out his licenced revolver and fired three shots at Sahni. While one bullet pierced through her head, the other hit her in the neck. The third one missed her and hit an air conditioner.
Sahni died on the spot, police alleged. Sharma later took the body in his car to the Bagiya restaurant, where he and restaurant manager Keshav Kumar attempted to burn her in a tandoor there. Bureau Report