Tandoor case' convict seeks 6-month parole

New Delhi: The convict in the sensational tandoor murder case has sought parole for six moths to tend to his ailing parents. The Delhi high court has issued a notice to the state government seeking its response on Sushil Sharma’s plea. Mr Sharma, who is also a former youth Congress leader, is undergoing life term sentence.

Justice Vipin Sanghi issued notice to the government and directed it to respond by January 25 on Sharma’s plea in which he has also challenged the November 28 order of Delhi government rejecting his application for regular parole. In his application, Sharma has claimed that his plea for regular parole was rejected by the government on “false and fictitious” grounds and the authorities did not appreciate the fact that he was eligible for grant of parole. “Respondent (state) has failed to appreciate that the petitioner (Sharma) has already undergone more than 20 years in custody and six months have already elapsed from the date of termination of the previous parole,” the application, filed through advocate Amit Sahni, said.

Mr Sharma has said that his parole application should have been allowed by the authorities “considering the health and age of his parents” as he is the only son. Mr Sharma had shot his wife Naina Sahni with his licensed revolver on the night of July 2, 1995, taken her body to a restaurant, chopped it into pieces and tried to char it in the restaurant’s oven, leading the case to be  called the “tandoor murder case.”

The Supreme Court had commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty awarded to Sharma by a trial court in 2003 and upheld by the high Court in 2007, saying the murder was the outcome of “strained personal relationship” and the convict was “not a confirmed criminal”.

While reducing the sentence awarded to him, the apex court had said that “life sentence is for the whole of remaining life of Sharma subject to remission granted by the appropriate government under the Code of Criminal Procedure.”