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Mahajan rejects demand for DNA test

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan has rejected the demand made by Komal Sharma, daughter of absconding Indian Police Service officer Ravi Kant Sharma, that he should undergo a DNA test in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.

Komal Sharma had earlier alleged that Mahajan was the real father of Bhatnagar's child, and that a DNA test would prove it.

"Please understand it is a DNA test and not an NDA [National Democratic Alliance] test," Mahajan quipped to reporters in the Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday after asking them not to use the term lightly.

"The father of the child does not want a DNA test because there is no dispute about the paternity of the child," he pointed out.

Shivani Bhatnagar's husband Rakesh, a senior journalist with The Times of India, too has rejected the demand. "Where is the dispute?" he said. "I am the father of the child. This is the worst kind of character assassination of someone who has been killed, of my son, and myself. I will not allow a DNA test to happen."

Delhi police sources are none too keen on the test, either. "Suppose we test Ravi Kant Sharma and it fails. Then the case revolving around his part in the conspiracy to murder Shivani Bhatnagar will collapse and he will go scot-free," a senior officer told rediff.com

The media, meanwhile, appears split down the middle on the question of whether R K Sharma did have a hand in the journalist's murder.

The national media has highlighted the role of the Delhi police in "cracking the case" with the arrest of three of the accused, Sri Bhagwan, Pradeep Kumar, and Satya Prakash.

The media in Chandigarh, however, feels that the Delhi police angle is being overplayed. "What we write from Chandigarh is printed in the local editions meant for Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, but the main story always comes from Delhi," complained a crime reporter, one of many camped in front of the Sharma residence.

Television channels have also rushed additional units from Delhi to ensure that there is round-the-clock monitoring of the house. "We are not taking any chances. If we miss any signal development our jobs will be at stake," a member of one of the television units said.

Sharma's latest application for anticipatory bail is scheduled to come up for hearing in the Delhi high court next week.

The Shivani Bhatnagar Murder Case: The complete coverage

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