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A local Panchkula court on Saturday rejected the bail petition of Ravi Kant Sharma, the Haryana-cadre Indian Police Service officer who is the prime suspect in the journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.
Additional District and Sessions Judge H S Bhangoo disallowed bail to Sharma after hearing arguments from his counsel and the Delhi police. Sharma's counsel Ashok Talwar said they would chalk out their next move only after getting a copy of the detailed order.
He said all options, including approaching the Punjab and Haryana high court at Chandigarh or the Delhi high court, were open.
Delhi police counsel S K Saxena said they would try to secure an arrest warrant against Sharma from a Delhi court.
The counsels for R K Sharma, who is posted as IG (Prisons), Haryana, had pressed for 'transit bail' for the cop saying he had been cooperating with the Delhi police during investigations over the past three years.
The counsels maintained that the bail plea of the senior IPS officer was maintainable in the local court as he was residing in the city.
Delhi police counsel S K Saxena opposed the bail plea saying that Sharma, as a law-abiding citizen and a law-enforcing officer, should cooperate with the probe team. The prosecutor also maintained that the bail plea was not maintainable in Panchkula as the FIR had been registered in Delhi.
Sharma has been absconding for the last eight days after proceeding on 10 days leave a day earlier citing 'domestic reasons'. He had proceeded on leave shortly after an accused was arrested by the Delhi police in connection with the murder of the Indian Express correspondent over three years ago.
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