Sushil Sharma had shot dead his wife in 1995, objecting to her alleged relationship with male friend and had then chopped her body into pieces and tried to burn it in restaurant oven. (Photo: File | AP)

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered 'forthwith' release of former youth Congress leader Sushil Kumar Sharma, serving life term in the 1995 murder of his wife Naina Sahni.

Sharma has already undergone over two decades of incarceration in the case.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal passed the order. Now 56, Sharma had shot dead his wife in 1995, objecting to her alleged relationship with a male friend. He had then chopped her body into pieces and attempted to burn it in a restaurant oven.

Known as the Tandoor (oven) murder case, it is one of the landmark cases in India in which DNA evidence and a second autopsy were used to establish the guilt of the accused.