The Hindu : National : Kunjum was eliminated in “chilling, sinister design”

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Kunjum was eliminated in “chilling, sinister design”

Staff Reporter

Romesh Sharma hatched conspiracy in jail

NEW DELHI: Romesh Sharma, who was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Kunjum Budhiraja, was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by a city court here on Monday.

Five other accused — Sharma’s nephew Surinder Mishra, woman convict Tejinder Virdi alias Dolly and hired killers Hemchand, Santram and Ramesh — were also sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.

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, Santram and Ramesh. The court said the prosecution case revealed a “pathetic, chilling and sinister design in which an innocent life was eliminated.”

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

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

Sharma said he would appeal against the conviction in the Delhi High Court.

In its charge sheet, the Delhi police had named 10 persons for the March 20, 1999 murder. According to the prosecution, Sharma hatched the conspiracy to kill Kunjum while he was lodged in the Tihar Central Jail in connection with other cases. At Sharma’s behest, his nephew took Kunjum, a fashion designer, to his uncle’s “Jai Mata Di” farmhouse at Mehrauli in South Delhi ostensibly to perform a puja on the occasion of Navaratri. The hired killers present there stabbed her to death.

According to the prosecution, Sharma became wary of Kunjum as she had begun usurping his assets and making unreasonable demands.

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