HC seeks AAP govt reply on Tandoor murder convict's plea

The Delhi High Court today asked the AAP government to produce before it a copy of the decision on the basis of which Sushil Sharma, former youth Congress leader convicted in the sensational Tandoor murder case, was remanded back in Tihar jail.
The high court on September 15, had said Sharma will remain out of jail on parole till the time the competent authority decides his plea seeking remission and premature release.
Sharma, however, today moved an application before Justice Siddharth Mridul, alleging that without any communication from the competent authority about the finality of the decision, he was forced to return back to jail on April 12.

Upon which, the court directed Delhi government's senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra to produce within a week order of the Sentence Review Board (SRB) and thereafter decision of the competent authority (LG), if any.
"Show me the order," the court said, adding that "if there is violation of the court's order as contended by Sharma..."
Sharma in his application through advocate Sumeet Verma, contended that he remained in jail for over 25 years, which is maximum as per SRB guidelines, so he be released from jail.

He said he was forcefully asked to surrender by the jail authorities at the instance of government.

Delhi government said he was only asked to surrender after Sharma, convicted for the sensational murder of his wife Naina Sahni, application has been decided by the authority.
Sharma shot her with his licensed revolver on July 2, 1995, took her body to a restaurant, chopped it into pieces and tried to burn them in a restaurant's oven, leading the case to be popularly known as the 'Tandoor murder case'.
The Supreme Court had commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty awarded to Sharma by a trial court in 2003 and upheld by the high court in 2007, saying the murder was the outcome of "strained personal relationship" and convict was "not a confirmed criminal".

While reducing the sentence awarded to him, the apex court had said "life sentence is for the whole of remaining life of Sharma subject to remission granted by the appropriate government under the Code of Criminal Procedure.