Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Delhi High Court will announce its verdict in the high-profile Jessica Lall murder case on Monday. The case had been re-opened earlier this year after a lower court had acquitted all the nine accused in the case, including the main accused Manu Sharma.
A bench comprising Justices R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin had earlier reserved its verdict for December 18 after the appeal proceedings were closed on November 29.
A total of 25 hearings took place since the case was reopened in March after the Delhi Police registered a case against unknown persons for tampering of evidence and criminal conspiracy in the wake of strong criticism for its shoddy investigation that helped the acquittal of the accused.
The case has of late seen some twists and turns, particularly after former Union law minister and noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani decided to take up the defence of accused Manu Sharma, who is the son of Haryana political leader Venod Sharma.
Jethmalani had on November 8 shocked the people sitting in the Delhi High Court when he claimed that it was “a tall Sikh gentleman” who fired at and killed Jessica on the fateful night, seven years ago.
Defending Manu, he had argued that he had enough evidence to prove it and would reveal his identity later.
Jethmalani had also moved a plea of transferring the case to another bench since on the grounds that there were media reports against Justices R S Sodhi. However, this was rejected by the High Court.
Attacking the media for “running a vilified campaign against his client Manu Sharma”, Jethmalani had gone on to say that media was acting in an ‘unjust’ way in portraying his client as guilty and that the whole case has become a trial by the media.
He has also defended his decision of taking up the defence of Manu Sharma, citing that any professional lawyer is free to choose his client.
A Delhi Court had on February 21, 2006 acquitted Manu Sharma and Vikas Yadav, sons of Congress politicians, along with seven other co-accused in the sensational murder case.
Says Jessica's sister, Sabrina Lall, "I had lost hope in the trial court with the way it was going. This is basically an appeal where the evidence will be re-examined. Mr Subramaniam has done a brilliant job and the case appears to be much stronger this time, so there should be no problem."
And Sabrina is getting support from all quarters. Nitish Katara's mother Neelam Katara has said that she is happy that the judgement day has finally come for Jessica Lall.
"As a mother, I cannot stop thinking that whatever happened to my son happened when Vikas Yadav was out on bail for Jessica Lall's murder. I feel that Vikas possibly had that sense of 'I got away once and I can get away again', which may have motivated the murder of my son," says she.
"We have total faith in the judiciary and we have waited for this day and we know that justice will prevail," adds socialite Bina Ramani who is one of the key witnesses in the case.
JESSICA TIMELINE |
 April 29, 1999: A party was in full swing at south Delhi’s Tamarind Court restaurant where hundreds of high-profile guests including a top ranking Delhi Police officer were present when Jessica Lall, the model tending the bar, was shot dead. An FIR was lodged by model-turned-actor Shayan Munshi who was standing next to her. In the following week four men present in the party were charged with killing Jessica. The main accused were all men who wielded influence. |
| November 2000: The trial began and five others including former test cricketer Yograj Singh were charged with harbouring the accused. But less than a year later the entire case of the prosecution weakened as witness after witness turned hostile and this included key witness Shayan Munshi who told the court.
"I can’t read Hindi and hence do not know what the police wrote”. Interestingly, Shayan was accompanied to court by Manu Sharma's lawyer. By this time charges of police complicity in favour of the accused were doing the rounds. |
| February 2006: Manu Sharma got out on bail in 2002 and four years later on February 21, 2006 the trial court acquitted Manu and the eight others for lack of evidence. Public outcry greeted the judgement and Delhi High Court took cognizance of the issue. On February 26 Delhi Police's special investigation team was constituted to probe the conduct of the investigating officers. |
| March 6, October 3 2006: A second FIR in the case was lodged on March 6 and on October 3 the hearing of the appeal against the trial court's order began. |
| November 2006: The appeal went through its share of ups and downs before the final verdict was reserved on November 29. |
Model Jessica Lall was shot at point blank range on the night of April 29, 1999 while she was working as a celebrity bar maid in the Tamarind Court Bar owned by socialite Bina Ramani.
It was alleged that Lall was murdered by Manu Sharma alias Siddharth Vashist, son of Congress politician and former Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Vinod Sharma, after she refused to serve him a drink since the bar had closed for the day.
The Delhi Police in its primary investigation also indicted Vikas Yadav, the son of former Rajya Sabha Parliamentarian D P 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.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
