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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