This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mukerjee (talk | contribs) at 15:43, 15 March 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 15:43, 15 March 2006 by Mukerjee (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. Feel free to improve this article or discuss changes on the talk page, but please note that updates without valid and reliable references will be removed. (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Manu Sharma (b. 1977) is an Indian who was acquitted along with seven other defendants in the charge of the murder of Indian model and documentary filmmaker Jessica Lal on February 21, 2006. Manu Sharma is the son of Haryana power minister Venod Sharma of the Indian Congress Party, and the family owns several sugar mills and entertainment businesses in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.
The acquittal was particularly noteworthy because the murder had been committed while dozens of clients were present at the bar of the Tamarind Court Cafe restaurant in Delhi on April 29, 1999. Most of the witnesses who had originally claimed to have seen Manu Sharma shoot Jessica turned hostile during the protracted court case, and it is possible that the forensic evidence related to the spent shells was doctored by the police, since the two cartridges sent for testing turned out to have been fired from different guns. In view of the fact that the weapon was never recovered, other police officers themselves questioned as to why the bullets were at all sent for testing.
Not many people in Chandigarh are surprised at the acquittal of this high profile criminal. Till a few days before the judgement, 29-year-old Manu was seen attending parties in the town, and running his popular disco-cum-pub, Blue Ice, in Chandigarh’s posh Sector 17 market. He has a reputation for throwing well-organised parties in and around the town.
The Sharma family is known for manipulating and ‘managing’ things is evident from the fact that though Manu got into several brawls in recent years, the family intervened each time to prevent any case from being registered. A Congress councillor in Chandigarh said that a compromise would be worked out in most cases. Soon after he was released on bail in 2003, there was a fight between employees of Blue Ice and some customers; Manu too was reportedly involved, but eventually, he was taken out of the picture and the disco’s manager was booked instead.
Sharma's acquittal has caused outrage in India with calls to the President, Abdul Kalam, for the case to be reopened, as it appears to be a clear case of the brazen misuse of power and influence by persons in high places. Even in the venal atmosphere of the criminal justice system in India where the art of buying/ intimidating/ cajoling witnesses and bribing investigating policemen is well known, the circumstances are too shocking for words. The murder was committed in the presence of hundreds of elite upper-class people, including senior police officers. Very few dared to come forward to depose. The few who did turned hostile.
 | This Indian biographical article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |