HC declines to extend interim bail granted to Suhaib Ilyasi

The Delhi High Court today declined to further extend the four-week interim bail granted to former TV anchor and producer Suhaib Ilyasi, serving life term for killing his wife 18 years ago, to take care of his ailing second spouse.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta declined to grant the relief, which was orally sought by Ilyasi's lawyers after the court adjourned the hearing of his appeal against his conviction and sentence, to July 4.

"No. There will be no further extension. This is why we wanted to commence arguments today," it said. Ilyasi was granted bail on April 26.

Ilyasi's wife Anju was rushed to a hospital on January 11, 2000 with stab wounds she received at her East Delhi residence. She was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

Ilyasi, who had shot into limelight for hosting the TV crime show 'India's Most Wanted', was arrested on March 28, 2000. Charges were framed against him in the case after his sister-in-law and mother-in-law alleged that he used to torture his wife for dowry.

While deferring hearing in the matter today, the court also frowned upon the conduct of the victim's mother for writing a letter to the bench asking one of the judges to recuse from the matter.

The bench observed that the content of the letter was prima facie in contempt of court, but decided not to take any action for now after the woman's lawyer assured that he would advise his client to withdraw the communication.

The woman's lawyer said the letter was written as she was anguished that Ilyasi had been granted bail for four weeks and his sentence suspended during this period.

The bench adjourned the matter on a request made by the Delhi Police that the hearing be deferred as senior advocate Sanjay Jain has been appointed as a Special Public Prosecutor to represent it.

The former TV anchor was taken into custody on December 16 last year after his conviction.

The trial court had on December 20, 2017, sentenced Ilyasi to life term for stabbing his wife Anju to death, saying he "committed murder and gave it a colour of suicide".

It had also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on him and directed that Rs 10 lakh be paid as compensation to Anju's parents. The expense would be borne by him.