In the specific page.tpl.php adding an include file I was recently asked to create a blank page without a header and footer. I implemented that following this comment.
Now the issue is that the team for whom I've created it do not want the html, body tags either that show up in view source! They have directly included a php file in the specific page-simple.tpl.php . I know this is not the right approach. If someone could point out the issue doing it this way and another approach if possible. I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.
Try create a custom module and use module_load_include() it might be a better approach than the standard PHP include() then include the custom php.