Tandoor case:HC refuses urgent hearing to Sharma's parole plea

The Delhi High Court today refused to give an urgent hearing to the parole plea of Tandoor case convict Sushil Kumar Sharma, awarded life imprisonment for the murder and burning of the body of his wife Naina Sahni in 1995.
A bench of justice Pratibha Rani, however, agreed to hear his plea on July 9 and directed Sharma to surrender in Tihar Jail on June 26, the date of expiry of the three-week-long furlough granted by the Director General of Prisons here.
The court, meanwhile, issued notice to the Delhi police and sought a status report from it regarding the contentions made by Sharma in his petition.

Sharma has sought parole for three months on the ground that his mother has been advised to undergo knee surgery and subsequent physiotherapy for three months and that he needs to take care of her during that period.
The former Youth Congress leader, has also challenged the May 22, 2014 order of the Delhi government by which his mother's plea to grant him parole was rejected.
The Delhi police, represented by advocate Saleem Ahmed, opposed Sharma's plea for parole, saying he is currently out on furlough.

Sharma was granted furlough on June 3, 2014, to take care of his mother.

The Supreme Court on October 8, last year had commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty awarded to Sharma for the murder and burning of the body of his wife in a tandoor, saying "brutality" alone would not justify death sentence".
On the intervening night of July 2-3, 1995, Sharma had shot dead Naina, suspecting her of having an affair with someone else, and then tried to destroy evidence by burning her body in the tandoor of his restaurant Bagia, the court had noted in its verdict.
The trial court in 2003 had awarded death sentence to Sharma which was upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2007.