Romesh Sharma is arrested again

Sharma was today arrested in connection with a case filed by Sanjay Sabharwal on October 22 at the Hauz Khas Police Station. He has been remanded to judicial custody until October 30.

The decibel level inside the courtroom increased in alarming proportions as lawyers tried to explain the case to Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Jai Prakash Narain. The MM was confused by the fact that there were so many different cases against Sharma, and even took a short recess.

Sanjay Sabharwal was also present in court and correctly identified Sharma. In his complaint (FIR no. 867/98) he alleged that Sharma had illegally taken over his C-41 Anand Niketan property in south Delhi.

Investigating Officer (IO) Rajiv Medha asked for Sharma’s remand, saying that the police also needed to recover the goods allegedly stolen by Sharma from Sabharwal.

The case took an interesting turn at this point, when defence lawyers argued that Sabharwal had earlier filed a similar FIR (538/96) at the Connaught Place Police Station in 1996. They also told the MM that the case had come up in the Delhi High Court, which passed a judgment in Sharma’s favour in 1997.

When the MM questioned Sabharwal, he said that he had filed an earlier complaint, but since he “didn’t get any relief” he decided to try his luck at the Hauz Khas Police Station.

Remanding Sharma to judicial custody for two days, the MM directed the IO to confirm whether both the complaints are for the same offence.