SC notice to state in Shivani murder case

New Delhi, Aug 4 (UNI) The Supreme Court today issued a notice to former IG Prisons, Haryana, R K Sharma, main accused in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, on a petition filed by Delhi police challenging a High Court judgement ordering the police to supply copies of the case diary to the main accused.

According to the police, case diaries cannot be supplied to an accused and it can be examined only by the court as the same being a privileged document. Moreover, the prosecution was not relying on the contents of the case diary in the case.

A bench comprising Justice S H Kapadia and Justice R V Raveendran also extended the interim stay against the impugned high court judgment till further orders.

Principal correspondent of the 'Indian Express' Shivani Bhatnagar was found murdered at her East Delhi residence on Januart 23, 1999.

Ravi Kant Sharma, a senior IPS officer, surrendered in 2002 when the court was about to declare him a proclaimed offender in the case and his entire property was going to be attached by the court.

The trial court had earlier directed the Delhi police to hand over the gist of case diaries including the statements of Shivani's husband Rakesh Bhatnagar, a senior journalist.

The high court on the petition of the Delhi government, instead of passing any substantive order, directed the police to go back to the trial court. According to the prosecution, Shivani was killed as she was threatening to expose Sharma, who was earlier an officer on special duty in the PMO.

The court directed Sharma to file his reply within four weeks.

Sharma is seeking bail from the high court on the ground of inordinate delay in the conclusion of the trial.

UNI AKS/SC MSJ HT1940