Thaindian News

(Lead)

New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS) A city court Friday convicted Romesh Sharma, allegedly an associate of mobster Dawood Ibrahim, and five others for the murder of fashion designer Kunjum Budhiraja in 1999. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced Feb 18. Additional Sessions Judge S.P. Garg held Sharma and five others guilty of murder of the 29-year-old designer.

Budhiraja was shot dead March 20, 1999, by a group of men from Uttar Pradesh allegedly at Sharma’s behest when she went to offer prayers at a temple in his south Delhi farmhouse.

Sharma’s two sisters, Jaspreet alias Sonu and Dolly, were also accused of involvement in Budhiraja’s murder.

However, the judge acquitted Jaspreet alias Sonu while convicting Sharma, Dolly, Surender Mishra, Hemchand, Santram and Ramesh under sections 302 (murder), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Sharma dressed up in white dhoti-kurta with vermilion smeared on his forehead looked calm and composed as the judge pronounced him guilty. His two sisters, however, could not control their emotions and cried.

“I will come with you to jail,” said Sonu to Dolly, who could even face death penalty as the maximum punishment.

“How can he convict you and not me?” she asked Dolly.

According to public prosecutor S.K.Das, Sharma, then lodged in Tihar Jail, came out on parole to attend Budhiraja’s funeral and carried out wedding rituals with her body at the cremation ground.

While framing charges against the accused, the court said the facts and circumstances of the case were sufficient to show prima facie that Sharma was an active participant in the conspiracy leading to the murder.

The court said: “The accused arranged the arrival of Budhiraja at the farmhouse where the killers were already awaiting for her.”

Sharma has been in judicial custody since 1999 and is facing trial in as many 16 criminal cases.