The proverbial long arm of law has caught up with Suhaib Ilyasi, the man who once anchored India’s Most Wanted, a highly popular programme on wanted criminals. A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced the former TV anchor and producer to life imprisonment for killing his wife Anju more than 17 years ago, saying he “committed murder and gave it a colour of suicide”.
However, the court ruled out the demand for death sentence saying the case did not fall in the “rarest of the rare” category. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) SK Malhotra imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on Ilyasi, who was convicted on December 16 for stabbing his wife to death her Mayur Vihar house on January 11, 2000. Ilyasi was arrested on March 28 the same year.
The conviction under section 302 of the IPC for murder entails punishment either with life imprisonment or death. Earlier, Ilyasi was only charged with milder sections, including 304 B (dowry death) of the IPC. The court also directed Ilyasi to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to parents of Anju.
Ilyasi, who was brought from Tihar jail, shouted that he is innocent and the award of life sentence is an “injustice”.
The trial court had framed charges against him relating to dowry death and subjecting a woman to cruelty (Section 304 (B) and Section 498 (A). In 2014, the Delhi High Court had asked the trial court to add the graver charge of murder under the IPC against Ilyasi following a plea by Anju’s mother Rukma Singh and sister Rashmi Singh.
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 Ilyasi, who was supposed to be a protector, became a killer and the case fell within the realms of rarest of rare.
However, Ilyasi’s counsel sought leniency saying he has faced around 18-year-long trial and three months in custody. The counsel also said he (Ilyasi) never violated the bail conditions, and successfully ran magazine, Bureaucracy Today, covering bureaucrats, and has no criminal antecedents.
