Police to appoint special counsel to contest Ilyasi's appeal: HC told

The Delhi High Court was today informed that the Delhi Police was in the process to appoint a special standing counsel to effectively pursue the appeal filed by former TV anchor and producer Suhaib Ilyasi, who was sentenced to life term for killing his wife 18 years ago.

The Delhi Police, which sought eight weeks for completing the process of appointing the special standing counsel, was given 10 days by the court to do so.

"The matter was listed for final hearing on the appeal. It is made clear that the appointment be done positively within 10 days from today," a bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta said.

The bench orally indicated that if the police kept on asking for more time for appointing the special standing counsel for the case, it might suspend the sentence.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on May 14.

The bench had on April 26 granted interim bail for a month to Ilyasi to take care of his ailing second wife.

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.

Anju was rushed to a hospital on January 11, 2000 with stab wounds she received at her East Delhi residence.

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.