New Delhi: Suspended IPS officer and the main accused on journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, R K Sharma, on Tuesday claimed that the deceased scribe knew several top BJP leaders. He, however, downplayed his alleged intimate relationship with the Indian Express journalist.
Hours after the Supreme Court rejected his plea, seeking certain 'statements' recorded by the investigating officer in the case dairy pertaining to the Shivani murder case, Sharma claimed in his testimony before Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar that Shivani "knew many officers in various departments and she also knew top BJP leaders in the Central Government."
His statement was recorded in the court hours after the apex court set aside the Delhi High Court order directing Delhi Police to provide case diary containing statements of Shivani's husband. Sharma has been in jail ever since he surrendered in 2002 after an NBW was issued against him.
"Shivani Bhatnagar was covering the PMO, IB, CBI, the Law Ministry, the Supreme Court and many other departments and ministries years before I joined the PMO... and she continued to have the same beats even after I left the PMO," he said.
Sharma was recording his statement under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a provision which entitles an accused to get his version recorded after the completion of the testimony of the prosecution witnesses.
Sharma's wife Madhu had earlier alleged that a senior BJP leader was behind the killing. The suspended officer admitted that Shivani was a family friend and his wife had helped her by providing references, during her stay in London but denied having an affair with her.
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