“I have lost 23 years in prison. I have a duty towards my elderly parents and want to spend the rest of my lives together,” said Sushil Sharma, the former youth Congress leader, who was released on Friday, 23 years after being arrested for his wife murder.
Sharma, 57, was convicted for killing his wife Naina Sahni on July 2, 1995, in what came to be infamously known as the Tandoor Murder Case. Police claimed that Kumar had later chopped his wife’s body and attempted to burn it in an oven (tandoor) at a restaurant on Ashoka Road. But the Supreme Court found no evidence to support these allegations and commuted Sharma’s death sentence to life imprisonment in 2013.
As an inmate of Delhi’s Tihar jail, Sharma in 2015 also garnered the infamous record of having spent the most number of years — 21 — behind bars without being granted parole for even a single day since his arrest in 1995. He was granted his first parole by the high court in 2015.
“I am the only son. The last few years inside prison were the most difficult ones for me. My parents had to be hospitalised and were keeping unwell. There was no one to take care of them,” Sharma told Hindustan Times on Friday evening, after his release from Tihar jail.
Sharma’s parents, who are in their mid-80s, live in outer Delhi.
“I do not know what I will do apart from being there for my parents. I am starting a new life today. I have to first perform my duty as a son. I have spent over 20 years in prison. If I can be of any help to Tihar, I would be happy to help the jail administration. I have no complaints against anyone. All the negativity in my life, that one second which cost me 23 years, has been washed away by the sweat inside prison,” he said
“I thank the Delhi High Court. My elderly parents are relieved. I can’t wait to meet them,” he said.
In September 2015, the Delhi High Court had granted Sharma parole for the first time. On Friday evening, as Sharma walked out of the prison gate, he had served the second-longest jail term of 23 years — 29 years with remission. Currently, there is only one other prisoner, who has served more jail time than Sharma. That inmate had committed a second murder while he was out on parole.
In the last Sentence Review Board meeting held in ??, the jail and the social welfare department had agreed to Sharma’s release while the Delhi police, government and a city judge had raised objections. Prison officials said Sharma was transferred to the semi-open jail in 2016 because he was eligible and displayed good conduct for over two decades.
A jail officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “For 21 years, until 2015, Sharma did not breathe the air outside Tihar. That is rare for any prisoner here. Until his release, he was managing the prison’s public relations office. He interacted with the families who came to visit their jailed relatives. He was made the head of a team of well disciplined prisoners who were allowed to roam around different jails and help visitors meet their jailed relatives.”
Sharma was also called wakil babu (lawyer) for helping prisoners with their legal cases inside prison.
When Delhi police arrested Sharma in 1995, he was a powerful youth leader in his party as well as in Delhi’s political circle. “His clout is all but gone. A day in prison is a great leveller. The man spent 23 years here,” the officer said.
First Published: Dec 22, 2018 09:07 IST
