The prosecution in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case today confronted main accused R K Sharma with evidence allegedly linking him as well as the other accused Sri Bhagwan to the murdered journalist, acording to a report in the Delhi Newsline supplement of the Indian Express.
Some details of the report:
In the court of Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar, the prosecution confronted Sharma with documents related to the St Kitts forgery case, which were seized from Bhatnagar’s house after her murder on January 23, 1999. As per the prosecution, Sharma shared an intimate relationship with Bhatnagar and had passed on the documents, which he had obtained in his capacity as Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister’s Office. In court today, Sharma denied knowledge of the documents or how they ended up with Bhatnagar.
The second key evidence presented today were records of a phone call made by the victim to Sharma, after she gave birth to a baby in Mumbai. The circumstances of that phone call, the prosecution alleged, indicated the relationship between the journalist and the then IPS officer.
In his reply, R K Sharma admitted that Bhatnagar had called him at his residence, but maintained that he was “out of the country†during that period, and had received the message on his answering machine only when he returned. He also denied that the phone call indicated any relationship between them. It may be recalled that Sharma, during his statement earlier, had admitted that Bhatnagar and he were “family friendsâ€.
The prosecution also produced in court phone records indicating Sharma had made and received calls from Shri Bhagwan, another accused also charged with murder and other sections of the IPC.
The prosecution alleged that following a conspiracy by Sharma, Shri Bhagwan and four others entered Bhatnagar’s house and murdered her, and that the phone records substantiated this alleged connection between Sharma and Shri Bhagwan. In his statement, however, Sharma denied any knowledge of these calls or any links with Shri Bhagwan.
According to prosecutors, a large part of the evidence against Sharma remains to be produced including further phone records, in the next hearings. The evidence, and Sharma’s defence, will determine the course the trial will take.
