This incident dates back to the night of July 2nd, 1995, when Constable Abdul Nazeer Kunju and Homeguard Chandar Pal were on their usual patrol in Connaught Place when they started to smell a foul odor, like something burning. The odor was coming from a restaurant on Ashoka road. Upon questioning the restaurant guard, they were informed that waste was being burned inside. As they were leaving, they heard a woman screaming about fire. Returning to the restaurant, they found the fire had spread, and with the help of the guard, they climbed over the restaurant wall to reach the lane.

At that moment, they saw two men fanning a tandoor in which something was burning. When Chandar Pal called out to them, one of the men came out of the restaurant and threatened the policemen, claiming to have strong connections in politics and warning them to leave. This made Constable Kunju suspicious, prompting him to pour water into the tandoor, extinguishing the fire. As soon as the fire was out, they were shocked to see what they found: around the tandoor lay human intestines, and amidst them was the half-burnt body of a person emitting a foul odor. Kunju immediately called for police backup and the fire station. The man who had issued the threat, named Sushil, managed to escape. However, the police arrested the manager of the restaurant, Keshav, and began questioning him rigorously.

Under the pressure of police interrogation, Keshav confessed the whole truth. He revealed that Sushil Sharma is the owner of the restaurant and that he owed a lot to Sushil, which is why he carried out all of this on Sushil’s orders. Then a man named Matlub Karim arrived at the police station. He told the police that the body was that of Sushil’s wife, Naina Sahni, and that Sushil had murdered his own wife. The Delhi police intensified their search for Sushil Sharma, who had been on the run for 9 days. Then they received news that Sushil had surrendered himself to the Bangalore police and was denying involvement in the murder. The police asked Sushil various questions during the interrogation to extract the truth from him. Finally, Sushil broke down and admitted that he was indeed the one who had murdered his wife, Naina.

He told the police that one day when he reached their flat in Gol Market, he saw Naina holding a drink in her hand and talking to someone on the phone. As soon as she saw Sushil, she hung up the phone and went to the room with a drink for him as well. As Sushil started to feel the effects of the drink, he began to suspect Naina. When he checked the phone, he saw the last dial was from Matlub, who answered the call. This made Sushil angry, and an argument ensued between him and Naina. In a fit of rage, Sushil grabbed his personal revolver from the drawer and shot Naina. He then cleaned up the bloodstains in their home and decided to burn her body in the restaurant’s tandoor.

But this was only half of the truth. The reason behind this murder was not just suspicion. Naina, Sushil, and Matlub had been close friends since college and were also involved in the youth wing of a political party. Naina and Matlub deeply loved each other, but due to belonging to different religions, they couldn’t marry, and Matlub ended up marrying a girl from his own faith. Naina and Matlub decided to remain good friends. However, Naina was completely shattered, and during her difficult times, Sushil became her support, and after some time, they got married. For a while, everything seemed fine, but gradually, Naina started to realize the truth about Sushil. He pretended to be a good person outside but inside the house, he would drink alcohol every night and abuse Naina, locking her inside their Gol Market flat. Naina used to share all her pain with Matlub over the phone.

Even after two years of marriage, Sushil did not officially announce his marriage in front of everyone, and one day Naina found out that Sushil was involved with other women as well. That’s when Naina decided that she needed to pull herself out of this mess, and she told Matlub that she wanted to start a new life in Australia, where Matlub agreed to help her. A few days before the night of July 2nd, Naina informed Sushil of her decision, and in anger, Sushil shot at her with his revolver to intimidate her. But when he saw Naina talking to Matlub on the phone on the night of July 2nd, he lost his mind in anger. Sushil couldn’t bear the thought of Matlub helping Naina, and in a fit of rage, he killed Naina. Sushil was arrested and sentenced to death, but later, on October 8, 2013, the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. Due to his good behavior in jail, he was released from Tihar Jail on December 22, 2018.

Why and until when will such murderers be pardoned? Did Naina truly get justice? And how long will politically connected individuals continue to misuse their power and wealth?