Suhaib Ilyasi killed wife fearing she may disclose his frauds: Delhi court

During the arguments on sentence, the prosecution sought capital punishment for the former TV producer contending that he gave “a painful death to his wife”.

Further, the prosecutor said that Suhaib Ilyasi who was supposed to be a protector became a killer and the case fell within the realms of rarest of rare.

Ilyasi’s counsel, however, sought leniency saying he has faced around 18-year-long trial and three months in custody. The counsel also said that he (Ilyasi) never violated the bail conditions, successfully run magazines covering bureaucrats and has no criminal antecedents.

The court also observed that the relationship between Ilyasi and his wife Anju were strained and the former TV producer’s conduct towards her was “not cordial”.

“There exists adequate material on record to prove that relations between the two were strained and that the conduct of the accused towards his wife was not cordial.

“The evidence on record also suggests that the accused was at pinnacle of his career and had earned immense reputation/success from his show ‘India’s Most Wanted’ and his wife deceased Anju, who knew about all the forgeries and wrong acts i.e possessing two passports, using fake degree for job, committing credit card fraud etc. could have let public know about these facts, which could very easily ruin his hard earned success, since she had made up her mind to leave the accused and settle down in Canada, as such, the circumstances so appeared would have impelled the accused to go to any extent,” Additional Sessions Judge S K Malhotra said.

The court refused to accept the claim of Ilyasi that his wife committed suicide, saying it stood “fully falsified” by the medical and other evidences on record.

“This court reaches the inescapable conclusion that the defence taken by accused that the deceased had committed suicide by stabbing herself at their residence, is not acceptable since the prosecution evidence coupled with other material on record does not indicate that she committed suicide,” it said.

Earlier, Ilyasi was charged with milder sections including 304 B (dowry death) of the IPC. However, Anju’s mother Rukma Singh and sister Rashmi Singh moved the Delhi High Court which in August 2014 ruled that Ilyasi would be tried under Section 302 for the offence of murder.

On January 11, 2000, Anju Ilyasi had been rushed to a hospital in Delhi with stab wounds which was ruled as the cause of her death that she purportedly received at her home in East Delhi.

READ | Suhaib Ilyasi gets life term for killing wife: Know all about the host of India’s Most Wanted

Suhaib lyasi, who had shot into limelight after hosting TV crime show-India’s Most Wanted, was arrested in March following allegations by his mother-in-law and sister-in-law of torturing his wife for dowry. He had earlier been charged with IPC section 304 B (dowry death), but in 2014 the Delhi High Court had ruled that Ilyasi will face murder charges for killing his wife.

lyasi is also the editor-in-chief of Bureaucracy Today magazine.

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