Papers found at Shivani's residence classified: CBI

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May 22, 2003 20:52 IST

Papers found from murdered Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar's residence pertained to the St Kitts case and were 'secret' and 'classified', the Central Bureau of Investigation told a Delhi court on Thursday.

Only two copies of the papers were prepared. One of was delivered to A N Verma, who was principal secretary to the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, and the other to the then Cabinet Secretary V C Pande, CBI Superintendent of Police D N Choudhary told Additional Sessions Judge J M Malik.

The CBI and the Intelligence Bureau, he said, were forwarded the documents by the police, who were investigating the murder case, to ascertain their importance.

The police alleged that senior Indian Police Service Officer Ravi Kant Sharma, the prime accused in the case, passed on these documents to Shivani while he was posted as Officer on Special Duty at the Prime Minister's Office during 1997-98.

Shivani's husband Rakesh Bhatnagar reportedly handed over the papers to the police after her murder.

Meanwhile, Shivani's father Satish Kumar Srivastava told the court that R K Sharma's wife Madhu Sharma had pleaded with him to dissuade Shivani's husband from pursuing the case.

"On 17th or 18th April 1999, I got a call from a lady who said she was Mrs Sharma. She made a request that I should tell Rakesh not to pursue the matter regarding the murder," he said.

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