The Delhi High Court on Thursday commuted the death penalty awarded to Ariz Khan following his conviction in the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter in which decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma died to life term.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma upheld a trial court order convicting Khan of the murder of the police official but refused to confirm the capital punishment.

The bench had reserved its judgement on the issue in August after the lawyers for the convict and the state concluded their submissions.

Mohan Chand Sharma, an officer of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell, was killed in the encounter between the police and the terrorists in south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar on September 19, 2008. 

Two terrorists were also killed in the encounter that happened days after five synchronised bomb explosions in the national capital killed 39 people and wounded 159.