Rohit Shekhar death: Court to consider charge sheet on Saturday

New Delhi, July 19 (IANS) A Delhi Court will on Saturday take cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case related to the death of late Congress leader Narayan Datt Tiwari's son Rohit Shekhar Tiwari.

Rohit Shekhar's wife Apoorva Shukla has been charged with killing her husband by allegedly smothering and strangulating him following an argument at their South Delhi residence in April this year.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sehrawat, who was supposed to take cognisance of the charge sheet on Friday, slated the matter for hearing on Saturday as he was yet to consider the voluminous document.

During the course of the hearing, advocate Mahmood Paracha appearing for Apoorva Shukla argued that the charge sheet served to the accused has been leaked to the media by the police in order to conduct a media trial against his client.

The court asked Paracha to file an additional affidavit requesting a probe in this regard.

Shukla, who appeared before the court on Friday, was sent back to judicial custody.

The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police filed a 518-page charge sheet in the case on Thursday which included the statements of around 56 witnesses along with photographs, CCTV footages and the post-mortem report.

The autopsy performed by a board of five doctors on April 17 revealed that Rohit Shekhar had died due to asphyxiation as he was smothered and strangulated, the police said.

A case of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered after the revelations of the post-mortem report.

Following the revelations, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch.

A team of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) had also reached the Defence Colony residence of Rohit Shekhar and recreated the crime scene and collected evidence in an attempt to unravel the mystery behind the death of the veteran Congress leader's son.