SC refers Swami Shardanand case to a larger bench

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) The Supreme Court today referred the case of Swami Shardanand, alias Murli Manohar Mishra, to a larger bench.

He was handed down the death penalty for burying alive his wife Shakereh in the courtyard of his house in Bangalore.

The matter was referred to a larger bench as the two judges, Justices S B Sinha and Markandey Katju were divided on the quantum of sentence though both the judges found him guilty.

Justice Sinha commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment while Justice Katju upheld capital punishment.

The convict had allegedly mixed sedatives in the tea he gave to his wife and thereafter buried her by locking her in a coffin in the backyard of his house on May 28, 1991.

Shakereh was former wife of Mr Akbar Khaleeli, an Indian ambassador. The deceased got married to Mr Khaleeli, an IFS officer in 1964 and the two were divorced in 1985.

Shakereh married the convict on April 17, 1986 despite opposition from her family members.

The deceased executed a will and general power of attorney in favour of the convict.

The daughter of the deceased, Shabah Khaleeli, made a written complaint in police station, Ashok Nagar, Bangalore, alleging that her mother had been missing since April 19, 1991.

The accused was arrested in 1994 and the body of the deceased exhumed from the courtyard and finally the convict was sentenced to death by the trial court on May 20, 2005 and the capital punishment was upheld by Karnataka High Court.

Today, Justice Sinha held that the case did not fall in the category of rarest of the rare while Justice Katju upheld the capital punishment awarded to the convict.

Both the judges, however, dismissed his appeal holding him guilty of murder.

The bench directed that the case record be placed before the honourable Chief Justice Of India, K G Balakrishnan for constituting an appropriate bench for deciding the quantum of sentence.

The body remains were handed over to her daughter for an expeditious burial.

UNI