Tandoor case: SC reserves verdict on plea of death row convict

The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a plea filed by jailed former Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma challenging his conviction and death sentence in the 1995 Naina Sahni murder case, which became famous as the 'tandoor' case.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam concluded the hearing on the petition during which Sharma's counsel and senior advocate Jaspal Singh said the case did not fall in the rarest of rare category warranting capital punishment.
He submitted the conviction was entirely based on the circumstantial evidence and death penalty cannot be awarded to the convict.
However, the prosecution said the case falls in the category of the rarest of rare and the trial court and the Delhi High Court were justified in awarding death sentence.

The arguments before the bench, also comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, had commenced five years after Sharma filed the appeal against the Delhi High Court judgement confirming the conviction and death penalty awarded to him for murdering his wife Naina on suspicion that she was having an extra-marital affair.
Sharma was convicted for murdering his wife and then disposing of her body by burning it in a tandoor.