By IANS,
New Delhi : Delhi High Court Thursday asked Delhi Police to reply to a petition by Pradeep Sharma, one of the four convicted in the murder of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar, challenging the life term awarded to him by a trial court last month.
A division bench of Justices Vikramjit Sen and Rajiv Sahai Endlaw issued notice to police asking them to file their reply by April 28, the next date of hearing.
Pradeep, along with former top cop R.K.Sharma and two others, was held guilty of the murder of Shivani Bhatnagar, an Indian Express scribe, on Jan 23, 1999.
Pradeep Sharma had on Tuesday filed the appeal through his counsel D. B. Goswami stating that the lower court was not clear about the motive of the crime. He held Indian Police Service (IPS) officer R.K.Sharma as the chief conspirator in the case.
Sharma contended that the trial court had ignored the evidence that as per the prosecution, he had left Shivani’s house at 3.10 p.m., which was before the incident occurred as stated in the police complaint. The First Information Report stated that the murder took place at 3.50 p.m.