New Delhi: The eight-year-old case of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar's murder moved a step closer towards its conclusion with the prosecution concluding its final arguments before a court here today.

The final arguments, which spanned nearly four months, saw the prosecution make efforts to establish that the murder was plotted by suspended IPS officer R K Sharma.

Shivani an Indian Express journalist was found murdered on January 23,1999. The prosecution claimed the murder was plotted by Sharma and carried out with the help of five others. Sharma's counsel S P Minocha would now open the defence arguments in the case beginning November 20.

Apart from Sharma, a Haryana-cadre officer, the case also involves as co-accused Pradeep Sharma, Sri Bhagwan, Satya Prakash, Ved Prakash Sharma and Ved alias Kalu.

Summing up his arguments before Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri, special public prosecutor S K Saxena said that all while the murder conspiracy was hatched by Sharma, the co-accused had apparent reasons to support and be a part of the crime.

The prosecution, which has called Shivani's death a result of a pre-planned contract killing said the meticulous way in which the murder was effected showed that the "man with the criminal mind was a police officer".

The prosecutor argued that Pradeep Sharma, against whom two separate criminal charges were pending in Haryana, had anticipated that Sharma in his capacity as a senior police officer then could help him get rid of the charges.

Drawing similar inference, Saxena claimed that the other four co-accused, who acted as property dealers in Gurgaon, had supported the conspired crime as they wanted to gain "police patronage" which would have helped them ensure a smooth business run.

Source : PTI