R K Sharma guilty in Shivani murder case

New Delhi, Mar 18: A fast track court today convicted suspended IPS officer R K Sharma and three others for murdering Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar.

The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on Thursday. Additional Sessions Judge R K Shastri, while pronouncing the verdict, also acquitted Ved Prakash Sharma and Ved alias Kalu. The court found Sharma and other three convicts guilty of charges under sections 302, 120(b) and 201. R K Sharma, a Haryana-cadre IPS officer, was facing trial for allegedly conspiring with five others-- Sri Bhagwan, Ved Prakash Sharma, Pradeep Sharma, Satya Prakash and Ved alias Kalu-- to get Shivani Bhatnagar killed on January 23, 1999. The five-year-long trial saw 51 out of 209 witnesses turn hostile.

R K Sharma and the deceased journalist had developed an intimate relationship but after some time differences cropped up between them.

UNI