The Supreme Court has commuted the death penalty of Tandoor murder case convict Sushil Sharma.
Former Delhi Youth Congress president Sushil Sharma was convicted for murdering his wife Naina Sahni and trying to burn her body in a restaurant tandoor in 1995.
He will now stay in jail for all his life. The apex court said Sharma shot dead Naina Sahni suspecting her fidelity. Sharma’s extreme possessiveness towards Sahni and his jealousy triggered the murder, but it’s not a case fit for death penalty, the Supreme Court said.
On July 2 1995, Congress worker Naina Sahni was shot dead and her body stuffed into the restaurant tandoor.According to the Delhi Police chargesheet, Sharma believed his wife, also a Congress worker, was having an affair with yet another Congressman Matloob Karim. Karim had been Naina’s classmate. Sharma and Naina also had differences because he wanted to keep their marriage a secret.
A jealous Sharma had come home on July 2 that year to find his wife talking on the phone to someone. He redialled and confirmed she was talking to Karim. Enraged, he fired three shots from his licensed revolver at his wife killing her.
The police said Sharma then wrapped the body and tried to burn it in the tandoor with the help of the Bagiya Restaurant manager, Keshav. A Delhi Police constable investigated what he suspected to be a fire and came across the manager trying to fuel the fire in the tandoor. He said he was burning Congress flags and campaign material, but the constable, Nazim Kunju, found the burning body of Naina.
The next day, Sharma fled town, went to Jaipur, Mumbai, Chennai and finally to Bangalore , where he surrendered on July 11, 1995 .
(Source:IANS)
