Delhi
court acquits Jessica Lal murder case accused
New
Delhi: A Delhi Court today acquitted Manu Sharma and
Vikas Yadav, sons of Congress politicians, along with seven
other co-accused in the sensational Jessica Lal murder case.
Model Jessica Lal 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 Lal 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). Today, an Additional Session
Judge acquitted Manu Sharma on the murder charges along
with Vikas Yadav, Amardeep Singh Gill, Alok Khanna and Shyam
Sunder Sharma on the charges of destroying evidences. The
verdict came 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. Defence lawyer
K.N. Balgopal said that there was no evidence against the
accused and the circumstantial evidence against them was
not enough to penalise them. Members of Jessica Lal's family
expressed their disappointment with the verdict and said
that "This was expected." The case that had captured front
page headlines as it included the who's and who of Delhi
society, both on the right and the wrong side of the law.
The public in general has expressed shock over the court's
ruling. Mannu Sharma has been out on bail since October
16, 2004, while co-accused Vikas Yadav remains in judicial
custody as he is also the prime accused in the Nitish Katara
murder case..
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