Court pulls up Delhi police in Jessica Lal murder

New Delhi, Feb 22 (UNI) A city court has pulled up the police for its failure to prove the case against the accused in the Jessica Lal murder case resulting in their acquittal.

Patiala House Court Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S L Bhayana, in his order yesterday said, ''the prosecution did not collect enough evidence and eyewitness to prove its case and a complete chain of evidence was missing, which indeed weakens the side of prosecution.'' Mr Bhayana also said in his order that the evidence which was put forward by key eyewitness Shayan Munshi, who was present at the time of incident had been corroborated by the report of Center for Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL).

''The police also failed to recover any weapon which has been used by the accused. Had the pistol been recovered, it could have linked him with the commission of crime,'' he added.

''I also agree with the defence counsel that, on April 30, 1999, the police had decided to frame charges against the accused. The Investigating Officer (IO), S K Sharma in this case, had got a call that morning from one of his senior officials stating that the Manu Sharma was the prime accused in the case. So it appeared that the inspector had primarily decided that the accused was involved in commission of crime, although no evidence was collected to prosecute them,'' Mr Bhayana said.

After seven years of protracted legal battle, the court yesterday let off all the nine accused, including prime accused Siddharth Vashisht alias Manu Sharma (son of former Union Minister Vinod Sharma), Vikas Yadav (son of former Rajya Sabha parliamentarian D P Yadav), former cricketer Yograj Singh (father of cricketer Yuvraj Singh), Shyam Sunder Sharma (son-in-law of former President late Shankar Dayal Sharma), and five others in the Jessica Lal murder case.

Manu Sharma was accused of shooting model Jessica Lal on the night of April 30, 1999, at a restaurant in the capital when she refused to serve him liquor as the bar had closed. Jessica, a model and events manager, worked as a bartender in the restaurant.

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