November 8, 2003	Saturday	Ramazan 12, 1424

NEW DELHI, Nov 7: An Indian court on Friday handed down the death penalty to a former politician convicted of shooting his wife and burning her dismembered corpse in the “tandoor” (oven) of an open-air restaurant.

Additional Sessions Judge G.P. Thareja on Monday pronounced Sushil Sharma guilty of murdering his wife Naina Sahni, 29, in July 1995 and burning her body parts in the grill of Delhi’s Baghiya restaurant to try to get rid of the evidence.

The ploy did not work as police raided the restaurant and dug out charred body parts from the oven, which were identified as Sahni’s.

Sushil Sharma, who was then president of the youth chapter of the Congress party, was said to have killed his wife because he suspected she was having an affair.

The grisly killing led to an eight-year trial, one of the longest murder trials in New Delhi.

Court officials said the judge also sentenced Keshav Kumar, who owned the restaurant, to seven years rigorous imprisonment for conspiring with Mr Sharma to burn Naina Sahni’s body. Mr Kumar has already served eight years in jail during the trial, so will be freed.

The murder haunts the Congress party and political foes are widely expected to turn the issue into an electoral plank to hit out at the party during a state election in New Delhi scheduled for early next month.—AFP