Jessica case: HC asks why witness turned hostile

New Delhi, Oct 5: The Delhi High Court today asked the police as to why the witnesses in the Jessica Lall murder case were not booked for turning hostile.

A division bench comprising Justices R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin also got the state counsel Mukta Gupta to accept that it was the public prosecutor who won acquittal for the accused in the trial court by toning down the case.

Ms Gupta sought the court's permission to examine 13 fresh witnesses in the Jessica Lall murder case to prove three vital links in the chain of circumstances.

At the time of filing the appeal against the acquittal in the case, the police also sought the Court's permission to provide additional evidence in the case.

The police sought to examine these witnesses in connection with purchase of 25 cartridges of .22 bore by prime accused Manu Sharma from Sonu Gun House at Karnal in Haryana; the opinion of Central Forensic Laboratory (CFSL) on the two empty shells of cartridges recovered from the spot and the recovery of Tata Safari owned by Piccadilly Agro Industries in which Manu Sharma was one of the directors.

The police said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to investigate the destruction of evidence had found that Sonu Gun House in connivance with other persons had fabricated the relevant records/entries in the daily sales register to create false evidence to show that the cartridges that Manu had bought from it bore KF' mark, and not C' empties which were recovered from the scene of the crime.

UNI