New Delhi, March 24: A fast track court on Monday gave life imprisonment to the suspended IPS officer RK Sharma and three others convicted for the murder of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20, 000 on Sharma.

The court had in its judgement on March 18 convicted R K Sharma, the key conspirator in the case, along with Satya Prakash, Sri Bhagwan and the hired killer, Pradeep Sharma for Shivani's murder.

Shivani was murdered at her home in Navkunj Apartments here on January 23, 1999.

In its judgement, the court had relied heavily upon the testimonies of Shivani's sister Sevanti and her friend, Sejal Shah. The court also took note of the call records that exposed the intimacy between Shivani and the suspended cop and also the conspiracy to murder her.

The court had deferred the order on sentence for the convicts on March 20 after hearing the arguments from both sides. During the arguments on sentence, the prosecution had demanded death for R K Sharma and the hired killer, Pradeep Sharma.

Extending its side of the arguments, the prosecution had focussed on three arguments to explain why in their opinion, R K Sharma and Pradeep Sharma should be awarded death. According to the prosecution, the murder was "pre-planned, calculated and cold-blooded."

The prosecution had tried to drive home the point that the plan was hatched by R K Sharma which saw its execution through the hired killer in a cold-blooded murder.

The prosecution had demanded life sentences, for the other two convicts, Sri Bhagawan and Satya Prakash.

Opposing the prosecution's demand, R K Sharma's defence had said, "Just because a journalist was murdered, it does not constitute rarest of the rare crimes."