New Delhi: Taking contradictory stands in the court and outside, former Delhi Youth Congress president Sushil Sharma, sentenced to death by the trial court for murdering his live-in partner Naina Sahni, today (Dec 17, 2003) apologised in public for the heinous act.

Minutes after his appeal against the order of Additional Sessions Judge G P Thareja was admitted by the Delhi High Court, Sharma told reporters it was only human to commit mistakes.

"I am just an ordinary man. Everybody commits mistakes. I too have committed it. As death awaits me, I want to apologise to everyone," Sharma, who shot dead 29-year-old Sahni and then attempted to burn her body in a tandoor (oven) of Bagiya Restaurant in New Delhi in July 1995, said.

PTI