Shivani case: Accused was offered Rs 10 lakh

NEW DELHI: Pradeep Sharma - the man who allegedly murdered Shivani Bhatnagar - was offered Rs 10 lakh on behalf of R K Sharma to surrender before the police and take upon himself the guilt of the crime, the chargesheet in the journalist''s murder case said citing a statement of Pradeep.
In his "disclosure" statement purportedly made before the police on August 3, a day after he was arrested, Pradeep had said that after cops turned the heat on him this year, Satya Prakash, one of the key accused in the case promised to pay him Rs 10 lakh if he surrendered before the police.
Satya Prakash instructed Pradeep to tell police that Shivani had duped him of Rs 80,000, on the promise of a job, which she did not secure, the statement said.
He also told Pradeep to "confess" that Shivani threatened to get him arrested saying she had contacts with ministers when he asked her to return the money, it added.
Satya Prakash reassured Pradeep saying the entire operation to eliminate Shivani was carried out under the direction of senior IPS officer R K Sharma, and that the officer would be of use to him for the rest of his life if he took the crime on himself, it said.
Pradeep, allegedly made two more disclosures before police, one on August 4 and another on August 17.
The accused, in his disclosure statement dated August 3, said that there was an "unknown" person with him on January 23, 1999, the day Shivani was murdered.
It was that "unknown" person who strangled Shivani with a piece of wire and later stabbed her on the throat, Pradeep said, according to the statement.
However, in the second "disclosure" statement, wherein he said that some of the statements made in the previous disclosure were false, Pradeep named the "unknown" person as one "Jawan".
But in his third disclosure statement recorded on August 17, Pradeep had allegedly "admitted" to having carried out the crime all alone.