SC rejects Manu Sharmas bail plea
New Delhi, May 12: The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on the bail application of Manu Sharma, who is serving life imprisonment in Jessica Lal murder case.
An
apex
bench,
comprising
Justices
CK
Thakker
and
DK
Jain,
had
reserved
its
verdict
after
arguments
on
the
bail
application
of
Manu
were
concluded.
Senior
Counsel
Ram
Jethmalani
pleading
for
suspension
of
Manu's
sentence
has
contended
that
the
High
Court
had
reversed
the
order
of
acquittal
passed
by
the
trial
court
under
media
pressure.
Model
Jessica
Lal
was
shot
at
point
blank
range
on
the
night
of
April
29,
1999
while
she
was
working
as
a
barmaid
at
the
Tamarind
Court
Bar
owned
by
socialite
Bina
Ramani.
It was alleged that Jessica was murdered by Manu Sharma, alias Siddharth Vashist, son of Congress politician and former Union Minister Vinod Sharma, after she refused him a drink since the bar had closed for the day. In its primary investigation, the Delhi Police also indicted Vikas Yadav, the son of Uttar Pradesh's heavy weight politician DP Yadav, along with ten others.
The sensational murder case had a high profile list of accused which included names like Amardeep Singh Gill, Coca-Cola company officials Alok Khanna, Shyam Sunder Sharma, Amit Jhingan, Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja Chopra, Ravinder Krishan Sudan and Dhanraj. They had been charged under sections 120(B), 302, 201 and 212 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
But, an Additional Session Judge acquitted Manu Sharma on the murder charges and Vikas Yadav, Amardeep Singh Gill, Alok Khanna and Shyam Sunder Sharma on the charges of destroying evidences.
The verdict had come after a long hiatus of six years in which the case saw numerous twists and turns with a large number of witnesses turning hostile. Deepak Bhojwani, socialite Bina Ramani, her husband George Mailhot, and her daughter Malini had testified that they had seen prime accused Manu Sharma with three other co-accused at the party.
ANI