Sharma did not murder Kunjum: HC

In a complete reversal of a trial court’s order, Delhi High Court has found ‘‘no evidence’’ against Romesh Sharma, who was last year sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend and fashion designer, Kunjum Budhiraja. The HC on Wednesday acquitted Sharma, the alleged frontman of Dawood Ibrahim, and co-accused Tejendir Verdi alias Dolly, who too had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court, however, upheld the sentences of four others — Sharma’s nephew, Surinder Mishra, Hemchand, Santram and Ramesh alias Bobby — in the murder case.
Kunjum was murdered on March 20, 1999, by men engaged by Mishra at Sharma’s farmhouse in Mehrauli, according to the prosecution. Sharma has been in judicial custody since that year and is facing trial in 16 criminal cases. On February 18 last year, a city court had awarded life term to him and five others for conspiring to murder Kunjum.
Rejecting the trial court’s verdict, a division bench, comprising Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Suresh Kait, said the evidence produced by the prosecution to prove its case was ‘‘far from being established’’. Relying on the circumstantial evidence and letters exchanged between Sharma and Kunjum, additional sessions judge S P Garg had said that Sharma’s motive behind killing Budhiraja was that she was being ‘‘too demanding and overbearing’’.
In a 120-page order, the HC trashed the court’s findings, saying ‘‘the motive of Sharma that he got fed up with Kunjum who became overbearing and demanding has been gullibly proved by the trial judge...the trial judge has acted on the supposition that Sharma did so because Kunjum was becoming too demanding.’’
Referring to the contents of the letters, the court said, ‘‘It (letters) does not establish that Sharma got fed up with Kunjum.’’ Instead, the court observed: ‘‘Far from proving or establishing, the same show that Kunjum was desiring nothing but the company of Sharma. She never sought anything of material value from him...the reverse stands established — that the duo were in love and desired the company of each other,’’ the bench said.
The HC also ruled out the possibility of a conspiracy being hatched by Sharma in jail as at most of the meetings, Budhiraja’s brother was present. ‘‘The circumstance used by the learned trial judge of Sharma meeting Surinder Mishra and Dolly in jail as incriminating is in blissful ignorance of the fact that Pawan Budhiraja was also present, and this ruled out any discussion regarding the execution of the plan to murder Kunjum,’’ the bench said.
The HC slammed the trial court’s findings that Sharma used to meet Mishra and others in jail and instructed them to kill her on the pretext of performing a puja at his Jai Mata Di farmhouse. It also relied on the testimony of a prosecution witness, a police officer, who said that the meetings with visitors used to happen in the presence of police officers and the distance between them was two and a half feet, making it difficult for them to discuss anything in detail.
Demolishing the trial court’s observation that Sharma’s conduct at Budhiraja’s funeral was nothing less than a drama, the Bench said, ‘‘where from the judge drew the conclusion that at the funeral of Kunjum, Romesh Sharma enacted a drama has baffled us. A grieving lover falling over the dead body of his mate and performing the ritual of a marriage can well be an expression of last love and need not necessarily be drama.’’
The court gave the ‘‘same benefit’’ of acquittal to Dolly finding ‘‘no incriminating evidence against her’’. The prosecution had alleged that soon after the death of Kunjum, Dolly spoke to Mishra but neither did she inform Sharma, nor attend her funeral, making her a conspirator. The argument was, however, rejected by the HC, which said that even after assuming all the factors to be true, ‘‘we hold that circumstances are insufficient’’ as she did not facilitate giving the keys of the farmhouse to the victim. The judges made this observation while rejecting the prosecution’s contention that Dolly wanted to get rid of Kunjum as she was jealous of her growing intimacy with Sharma.
Budhiraja had been stabbed to death on March 20, 1999, by a group of hired gangsters from Uttar Pradesh. According to the prosecution, the murder was carried out at the instance of Surinder Mishra, a co-accused and nephew of Sharma.
Mishra had met Sharma in jail a day before the incident, the prosecution claimed. Sharma’s nephew had taken the victim to his farmhouse under the pretext of offering ‘puja’ where she was stabbed to death.
A chargesheet was filed on June 16, 1999. Delhi Police had chargesheeted 10 persons for the murder. Four accused — Devender, Ganga Ram, Sudesh and Rakesh — were declared proclaimed offenders in the case.
According to the police, Sharma had hatched the conspiracy to kill 29-year-old Budhiraja while he was in judicial custody in Tihar Jail in connection with other cases registered against him. This did not find favour with the HC. Sharma is facing trial in 16 other cases, including that of intimidation, property-grabbing and cheating.
smriti.singh@timesgroup.com