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Delhi HC adjourns R K Sharma's bail plea to Monday

The Delhi high court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of the anticipatory bail application of R K Sharma, Indian Police Service officer and prime accused in the murder of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar, to Monday, September 2.

Justice M A Khan heard the arguments of Dinesh Mathur, counsel for R K Sharma, for more than 90 minutes before adjourning the hearing.

Putting up a spirited show, Mathur quoted a number of Supreme Court judgments to say that since his client was seeking legal recourse in various courts, he could not be termed an absconder.

He wondered what documents S K Saxena, counsel for the prosecution, had handed over to the court at the last hearing in a sealed envelope. Saxena had described the documents as explosive. "What did they contain that even the court staff was not allowed to see those documents?" Mathur demanded.

He lambasted the prosecution theory that Bhatnagar had had an affair with R K Sharma simply because she had asked one of her relatives to telephone him after delivering her baby boy in October 1998.

"Am I to assume that I impregnated her through a telephone call?" he said as the packed courtroom burst out laughing.

"Why should I kill a woman when I have a relationship with her when I could have enjoyed the relationship," he wondered. "Only the police could come up with this kind of perverted logic."

Mathur said that if the court so desired, it could put reasonable restrictions on Sharma and ask him to join investigations by granting him conditional bail. "Otherwise he should be sent to judicial custody on surrendering," he said.

He slammed the Delhi police for accusing his client of failing to join the investigation. "It is shameful that the Delhi police could not arrest an accused under section 302 and sought the help of the Haryana government to seek his surrender," Mathur said.

"The police has resorted to character assassination of Shivani Bhatnagar who is dead by suggesting vulgar things," he said, countering the prosecution line that since Bhatnagar was blackmailing Sharma, he got her killed.

Shivani Bhatnagar murder case: Complete coverage

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