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Delhi police question Madhu Sharma, daughter

By Rajesh Ahuja

CHANDIGARH AUG. 22. A team of the Delhi Police, Crime Branch, today questioned Madhu Sharma, wife of the IPS officer, Ravi Kant Sharma — wanted in the murder of the Indian Express correspondent, Shivani Bhatnagar — and her daughter, Komal, for an hour at their Panchkula residence near here. But no information about Mr. Sharma's whereabouts could be obtained from them. They denied having contacted him since August 3.

Led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Gurbaksh Singh, the team did not question them about their allegations against the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, or the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, but focussed on Mr. Sharma's "friends, relations and links.''

The Delhi Police reached the Sharmas' residence around 12.20 p.m. Local policemen and a woman constable accompanied them. Ms. Sharma asked the members of the Delhi Police team to write down their names and designations, but they refused. She checked their identity cards. The policemen, who were feeling uncomfortable at the large media presence, asked the presspersons to leave.

Ms. Sharma said the questioning was cordial as she had told police that if they "behaved fairly," she too would respond positively. She offered them tea, coffee and water but they refused. The policemen protested when the woman constable complained to Ms. Sharma that she had been brought ``forcibly'' by them — the Delhi Police could not interrogate the family on Wednesday evening as no woman constable was present.

Ms. Sharma said she and her daughter were asked about the whereabouts of Mr. Sharma, "his close friends, relatives and acquaintances." The questions were more or less in line with what had been asked at the time of Shivani's murder three-and-a-half years ago. While admitting that she and her husband had spent their summer holiday together at Mussoorie till August 3, she had told the sleuths that they could not question her about it, as it was purely a "personal matter." She had confronted them on "tapping" her phones and told them that she had a caller identity device and that she and her family would not be intimidated by "any pressure tactics", including a threat to attach their property.

On her varying statements in the last few days about Mr. Sharma's ``surrender'' if his bail plea was rejected, Ms. Sharma said that it was her prerogative to make "any statement."

She said that a senior Delhi Police official had conveyed through a common friend that her husband would not be ``tortured'' if he surrendered.

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