The Hindu : New Delhi News : Life imprisonment for Romesh Sharma and five others in Kunjum murder case

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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008
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Life imprisonment for Romesh Sharma and five others in Kunjum murder case

Staff Reporter

— PHoTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

Romesh Sharma being produced at the Patiala House courts in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Romesh Sharma, alleged aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim who was convicted for the murder of his girlfriend Kunjum Budhiraja, was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by a court here on Monday.

The five other accused in the case — Sharma’s nephew Surinder Mishra, woman convict Tejinder Virdi alias Dolly, and hired killers Hemchand, Sant Ram and Ramesh — were also sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.

Pronouncing the sentence, Additional Sessions Judge S. P. Garg also slapped fines of Rs.50,000 on Sharma, Rs.5,000 each on Mishra and Dolly and Rs.1,000 each on Hemchand, Sant Ram and Ramesh. The court said the prosecution’s case revealed a “pathetic, chilling and sinister design where an innocent life was eliminated”.

The court had convicted all six accused for murder and criminal conspiracy last Friday. One of the accused, Jaspreet Virdi alias Sonu, had been acquitted for lack of evidence.

While the key witness in the case, Ram Achal Tiwari, had turned hostile, the court relied on circumstantial and forensic evidence to arrive at its verdict. It said circumstantial evidence did not point to any other hypothesis except the guilt of the accused persons.

The court also rejected the defence argument that the chain of events was not completely established to prove the complicity of the main accused.

Coming out of the court, Romesh Sharma said he would appeal against the conviction in the Delhi High Court.

In its charge-sheet, the Delhi police had named ten persons for the murder of Kunjum Budhiraja on March 20, 1999. Four of the ten accused — Devender, Ganga Ram, Sudesh and Rakesh — had been declared proclaimed offenders.

According to the prosecution, Sharma had hatched the conspiracy to kill Kunjum while he was lodged at Tihar Central Jail in connection with other cases. At Sharma’s behest, his nephew had taken Kunjum, a fashion designer, to his uncle’s “Jai Mata Di” farmhouse at Mehrauli in South Delhi ostensibly to perform “puja” on Navaratri.

The hired killers were allegedly present at the farmhouse and stabbed Kunjum to death when she reached there. According to the prosecution, Sharma had become wary of Kunjum as she had begun usurping his assets and making “unreasonable demands”.

Sharma, who was jailed in 1998, had come into contact with the hired killers in Tihar Jail itself. Apart from the murder case, Sharma is also facing prosecution in 16 other cases pertaining to criminal intimidation, cheating and grabbing of property.

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