Former Indian TV producer sentenced to life in jail for wife's murder

NEW DELHI, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- A court in the Indian capital on Wednesday sentenced a former television producer to life in jail for killing his wife 17 years ago.

Additional Sessions Judge S.K. Malhotra handed down the punishment to 51-year-old Suhaib Ilyasi, days after convicting him of the murder of his wife Anju in their Delhi home in 2000.

He was convicted under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code that entails death penalty as maximum punishment, but the court showed leniency in sentencing him to life imprisonment, a lawyer said.

Ilyasi once hosted the popular TV crime series "India's Most Wanted". It was the country's first such show on absconding criminals.

In January 2000, his 30-year-old wife was found with multiple stab wounds in their Delhi home and soon rushed to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

Ilyasi had then told police that she had committed suicide. And three months later, he was arrested on charges of dowry harassment, but later freed on bail.

Years later, a retrial was ordered by the Delhi High Court on murder charges after Anju's mother approached the court, saying he used to frequently torture his wife for dowry. Enditem