Naina Sahni

Naina Sahni was the victim of Tandoor murder case.[1] On 2 July 1995, she was killed by her husband Sushil Sharma, a congress youth leader and MLA. Naina herself was a worker in the Congress party. Sushil Sharma was convicted for the murder by the Trial Court, Delhi High Court and Supreme Court. On 8 October 2013, Sharma was awarded life imprisonment by the Supreme Court.[2][3]

Tandoor Murder Case

Sushil Sharma objected to his wife Naina Sahni's friendship with Matloob Karim. Matloob and Naina were classmates and fellow Congress workers. Sushil suspected Naina of having an illicit relationship with Matloob. On the night of 2 July 1995, Sushil came home and saw Naina talking on the phone and consuming alcohol. Naina on seeing Sushil hung up. Sushil redialed the phone to find Matloob on the other end. Enraged he fatally shot Naina.He took the body to a restaurant called Bagiya and tried to dispose it off with the restaurant manager, Keshav Kumar. The body was chopped into pieces and put in a Tandoor (clay oven) to burn. .[4] Police arrested Keshav Kumar but Sharma managed to flee. He surrendered on July 10, 1995.[2] The case also involved the use of DNA evidence to establish the identity of the victim.

The first postmortem was conducted at LHMC Delhi, the cause of death was opined to be Burn injuries. The second postmortem was ordered by Lt Governor Delhi, which was conducted by team of three doctors from three different hospitals headed by T D Dogra, they detected two bullets from head and neck region,opined cause of death due to firearm injuries, with that the course of investigation changed and the actual story came to light, this case is landmark citation for fruitful second Autopsy.[5] Delhi Police investigated the case and filed a chargesheet on 27 July 1995 in a Sessions Court. On 7 November 2003, Sushil Sharma was sentenced to death and restaurant manager, Keshav Kumar was given seven years rigorous imprisonment.[2]

Sharma appealed against District Court Judgement in Delhi High Court trial court judgement. On 19 February 2007, the Delhi High Court upheld the lower courts' decision.[2]

On 8 October 2013, a three-judge bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices Ranjana Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, of Supreme Court upheld Sharma's conviction. However, the court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment because Sharma doesn't have a criminal antecedent and it is not a crime against society, but it is a crime committed by the accused due to strained personal relationship with his wife.[2][3]

References

  1. ↑ "Tandoor Murder Case: Sushill Sharma found guilty". Express India. 3 November 2003.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Timeline of events". October 8, 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sushil Kumar spared noose in tandoor murder case". Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Tandoor Case: Murder most foul". 28 October 2003.
  5. ↑ "Samachar.Com". 8-10-2013. Retrieved 2014-01-25. Check date values in: |date= (help)

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