Shivani murder case: HC grants interim bail to convict Pradeep

The Delhi High Court today granted interim bail to Pradeep Sharma, undergoing life sentence in journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, to meet his family members.

Sharma, who has been in jail since August 2002 along with former Haryana IPS officer RK Sharma and two others, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a city court on March 24 last year.

A Division Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul granted interim bail for two months to Sharma on furnishing a bond of Rs20,000 and directed him not to leave Delhi till further order of the court.

The Bench also directed him to mark his attendance before the SHO of Najafgarh police station every Monday.

Filing the bail application through DB Goswami, Sharma said his elder daughter was 2 years old and son was only few months old when he was arrested by the police in connection with this case.

He said he has not seen his children since his arrest except on one occasion when he was granted only a few days' parole following the death of his grandfather last year.

According to the police, the IPS officer had conspired with others, including Sharma, to kill Shivani, an Indian Express journalist, after she had threatened to expose him.

The IPS officer and Shivani allegedly had a relationship during his stint as an Officer on Special Duty(OSD) in the Prime Minister's Office in 1997.

The police had alleged the officer had leaked some secret documents to senior journalist Shivani.

Shivani was found murdered at her apartment in East Delhi house in January 1999.