SC reserves verdict on death sentence to Swami Shradhanand

New Delhi, Feb 8 (UNI) The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a petition filed by Swami Shradhanand alias Murli Manohar Mishra, sentenced to death for burying his wife alive after allegedly drugging her.

The Bangalore sessions court had sentenced him to death which was upheld by the Karnataka High Court on September 20, 2005.

Mishra is accused of murdering his wife Shakereh, grand daughter of former Diwan of erstwhile state of Mysore Mirza Ismail.

The deceased had married Mishra after she separated from her first husband Akhbar K Khaleeli, a former Indian High Commissioner to Australia and later the Indian envoy to Iran.

According to the prosecution, Mishra drugged his wife and then buried her alive in his backyard. Her daughter, Shabah Khaleeli, lodged a missing complaint with the police in June 1992.

However, the police exhumed the body of the deceased only in 1994.

Mishra was convicted on the basis of a DNA report and a confession.

Varinder Kumar Sharma, counsel for the convict, contended before the bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Markandey Katju that it was not the case falling in the category of 'rarest of the rare' and therefore, the death sentence imposed on his client be set aside.

He also contended that in a criminal trial, the confession of a person could not be read against him.

Mishra, 67, belongs to Sagar in Madhya Pradesh and had married the deceased in 1986. He has already served 12 years in prison.

The apex court reserved the verdict after conclusion of the arguements today.

UNI