A Delhi Court on Monday announced life term for former Haryana cadre IPS officer R.K. Sharma & three others, who were convicted in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case. R.K. Sharma was also fined 20, 000 rs & 10,000 rs for three others.

Ravi Kant Sharma, a 1976-batch IPS officer, has been found guilty of conspiring with three others Pradeep Sharma, Sri Bhagwan & Satya Prakash to conspire to kill the Indian Express journalist on 23rd January, 1999.

Shivani Bhatnagar the principal correspondent of Indian Express, was found murdered in her flat in East Delhi on Jan 23, 1999. She was at home alone with her infant son, when the murder took place.

Pradeep Sharma, one of the main accused, has been charged with inflicting fatal injuries on the victim with the help of his four associates. The four men, apart from R K Sharma, allegedly supported Pradeep to commit the crime.

Meanwhile, the prosecution has also put additional charges on Pradeep. He has been accused of stealing the victim`s gold chain & camera after the murder. The police said that the former IPS officer R K Sharma allegedly conspired to eliminate Shivani after the journalist threatened to expose him.

The two allegedly had an affair & during R K Sharma’s stint as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Prime Minister’s Office in 1997, the IPS officer had “leaked” some secret documents to Shivani. However, R K Sharma has refuted all charges leveled against him & has denied having had any affair with Shivani. He has also denied having leaked any sensitive information to the journalist.