Shivani murder: Cops challenge R K Sharma's acquittal in SC

The Delhi Police on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the acquittal of suspended IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma and others in journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.

The police has filed the appeal against the October 12, 2011 verdict of the Delhi High Court acquitting R K Sharma and two others by giving them benefit of doubt.

The high court had only upheld the conviction of Pradeep Sharma, one of the four persons, found guilty by the trial court.Besides R K Sharma, others acquitted by the high  court were Sri Bhawgan and Satya Prakash.

The high court had said although the motive behind the killing of the Indian Express scribe was unclear, it raised questions whether Pradeep Sharma acted alone or at the behest of R K Sharma and others or at the instance of someone else.

"These are questions which we cannot answer on the basis of the material before us. The quality of evidence before us is not of a high calibre," the high court had said, adding

that the call records, the key document, is riddled with so many problems that it cannot be relied upon.

The high court bench of Justices B D Ahmed and Manmohan Singh had said the prosecution has failed to establish the link between R K Sharma and the killer and even the crucial records relating to the call details were tampered with and cannot be relied upon.

It said the prosecution failed to prove the motive behind the offence and the link between three co-accused, who were acquitted, and Pradeep Sharma, the man who killed the victim in her East Delhi flat on January 23 in 1999.