Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Rajender Kumar Shastri has mentioned in his judgment that Sharma’s motive to kill Shivani was his fear that she would expose their relationship and ruin his social status. Though there was no direct evidence to prove this, there was reliable circumstantial evidence in this regard, he added.

It has been noted in the judgment that the testimonies of Shivani’s sister Sevanti and friend Seijal Shah had established that the two had intimate relations and that he had started avoiding her, much to her annoyance and dismay.

Though the statements, being hearsay, could not be admissible under the law, the ASJ said: “I find deposition of the two witnesses about the conduct and mental state of Shivani and Sharma admissible under the relevant provision of the Indian Evidence Act (pertaining to motive, preparation and previous or subsequent conduct)”.

Remaining elusive for a considerable time after the murder, knowing that he was being hunted in this connection, also cost Sharma dear. “Avoiding or not joining the investigation can be taken as a fact against him,” the prosecution had argued, which the court accepted in its verdict.

Another crucial evidence against the convicts turned out to be the telephonic conversations between them from the time they had hatched the conspiracy till they executed the plan.