Sister ruled out political angle

NEW DELHI: If it was Sevanti���s testimony which helped seal the fate of her sister���s killers, it was also what made the court stay away from the political intrigue angle ��� which was a red herring in the case.
A teacher by profession, Sevanti was the prosecution���s 26th witness who deposed on July 8, 2003. While she accepted that her sister and R K Sharma shared an adulterous relationship, in her cross-examination, she fought back allegations that her sister knew several politicians."She did not talk about any politician. She was not personally known to any politician," Sevanti had told the court, while also putting to rest doubts about Shivani knowing any other bureaucrats in the PMO, apart from R K Shrama. "She did not know any other bureaucrat in the PMO," she had said categorically.
Prodded further, Sevanti had reiterated, "It is wrong to say that Shivani used to know numbers of politicians and bureaucrats in various government offices."
A look at her testimony reveals that Sharma���s defence had specifically questioned her on Shivani���s alleged proximity to several top BJP leaders. Sevanti in her reply had told the court, "I am not aware whether Shivani was covering BJP election campaign for parliamentary election...I am not aware whether she travelled with BJP leaders to various places in India regarding the election campaign. I am not aware whether she had contacts with various BJP leaders." She later added that she did not know whether some BJP leaders had visited Shivani���s house to condone her death.
The prosecution had relied heavily on Sevanti���s testimony to prove the intimacy between Sharma and Shivani. Depending on her testimony, the prosecution had tried to point towards the motive behind the killing, which provided the ground to convict the suspended cop.
Another key witness in the case was Shivani���s roommate in London, Sejal Shah, who deposed on July 29, 2004. The two had met in London where Shivani had gone on a scholorship in 1998.
Sejal, in her eloquent account of Shivani���s stay in London, had mentioned long telephone calls between the scribe and R K Sharma, which further helped the prosecution to prove the intimacy between the two. "Three to four times a week, Shivani used to call R K Sharma and used to tell him to ring back and she used to do so without much conversation. And then, there used to be one-hour long calls from R K Sharma to Shivani," Sejal had told the court. In her testimony, Sejal also mentions that Shivani had told her that R K Sharma was "scared of his wife".
sriharsha.k@timesgroup.com