This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mukerjee (talk | contribs) at 06:40, 8 October 2006 (included section on the coverup and quotes from tehelka expose). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 06:40, 8 October 2006 by Mukerjee (talk | contribs) (included section on the coverup and quotes from tehelka expose)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Manu Sharma (b. 1977) is widely believed to have murdered Indian model and documentary filmmaker Jessica Lal in a crowded bar early in the morning of April 29, 1999. Despite dozens of witnesses, Sharma was acquitted of all charges, along with seven other well-connected defendants by judge S.L. Bhayana on February 21, 2006.
Sharma is the son of leading Haryana politician Venod Sharma of the Indian Congress Party. Venod Sharma has was a minister in the central Narasimha Rao cabinet, and at the time of the crime, was president of the Congress Party in Haryana. The family is related to ex-president Shankar Dayal Sharma and owns a number of sugar mills and entertainment businesses in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. Despite the negative image after the murder, Venod Sharma won elections and was inducted into the State cabinet as Minister of Power.
The murder
Seven days after the murder, Manu confessed to the police, giving this reason for the murder:
- "The idea was generally to shoot her because it was so embarrassing that she said that even if you give me Rs 1000, you will not get even a sip of my drink. So I thought I will just shoot somebody. I pointed towards her a little and fired."
A number of eye witnesses made initial statements that corroborated with this confession. A consistent story emerged: Manu along with friends Amardeep Singh and Alok Khanna (at the time both were senior executives with Coca-Cola India), Vikas Yadav (son of member of parliament DP Yadav, and prime accused in the Nitish Katara murder case), and Amit Jhingan, had entered the bar after it had closed. Jessical Lal had rebuffed Manu's request for a drink. A powerful politician's son, Manu was unaccustomed to being denied. An altercation ensued, and at one point Manu commented that "I could have a sip of you for Rs 1000." Eventually Manu brought out his 0.22 pistol from his pocket, and fired one shot into the air, and the second straight at Jessica's head, killing her immediately.
The five friends Manu went into hiding for seven days, conferring with family, and initially his father apparently said "face the punishment, what can I do?" but subsequently he started helping his son. They went underground in a safe house in South Delhi, and the pistol was disposed of (it was never recovered). After his surrender, one by one, all the statements by eyewitnesses, as well as Manu's own confession, were retracted or were thrown out by the court due to inadequate legal process.
Media Pressure
Sharma was acquitted of all charges in February 2006. Not a single trustworthy witness could be found, despte the fact that the murder had been committed in the presence of dozens of people, including senior police officers, at the bar of the Tamarind Court Cafe restaurant in Delhi. All the witnesses who had originally claimed to have seen Manu Sharma shoot Jessica turned hostile during the protracted court case, and it appears likely that the forensic evidence related to the spent shells was doctored by the police, since 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 allegedly high profile criminal. Until 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 around town.
The Sharma family is known for manipulating and ‘managing’ things, a claim backed by reports of Manu getting into several brawls in recent years, with the family intervening in each instance 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 case and the disco’s manager was booked instead.
The acquittal caused widespread outrage in India. The President, Abdul Kalam, and others were appealed to so that the case could be reopened, since it appeared to be a clear case of 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 by many deemed too shocking. Subsequently a new case has been filed and Manu is currently being tried.
On March 22, 2006, the Delhi High Court admitted an appeal by the police against the Jessica Lal murder acquittals, issuing bailable warrants against prime accused Manu Sharma and eight others and also restrained them from leaving the country.
Anatomy of the Cover-Up Operation
In the original trial, very few would come forward to depose. Eyewitnesses who initially claimed to have seen the murder, such as Shyan Munshi, Karan Rajput and Shivdas Yadav, all turned hostile. Increasingly, revelations in the media have been piecing together the story of the pressure, bribery and coercion that led to this reversal.
In July-September 2006, the magazine Tehelka carried out a three month long sting operation against these three key witnesses, which was aired in a leading Hindi News channel, leading to increasing furore.
One of the key witnesses was Karan Rajput, who was present at the restaurant to borrow money from his nephew, Jitendra, the manager at the bar. Rajput who had long been an alcoholic, was asked by his nephew to sit at a chair which happened to be facing the bar where Shayan and Jessica were making drinks. After the murder, Karan initially claimed that he had witnessed how a boy in a white T-shirt came up to the bar and shot Jessica. However, in the court testimony, he turned hostile, denying that he had been there at all.
After the incident Karan Rajput lived a life of parties and drinking bouts - although he had no job or other visible means of income. In January 2005, he died of cirrhosis of the liver. The Tehelka expose revealed that Karan Rajput was a regular visitor to Venod Sharma's offices in Chandigarh and Okhla, Delhi where he would collect money. Friends and drinking buddies who would go with him mention a total figure between Rs. 20 Lakhs and Rs. 35 lakhs (at a salary of Rs. 10,000 p.m., this is more than twenty year's wages). Here is part of the conversation that the Tehelka reporter had with a friend of Karan:
- Surendra: I saw him taking receiving money at Okhla.
- Question: Where at Okhla?
- Surendra: From Sharma’s place. In front of Okhla depot there is a building. Sharma owns entire building. We used to collect money from there itself.
- Question: How much money?
- Surendra: Whatever we needed?
- Question: Whatever you say!
- Surendra: Whatever we demand. We used to get 20 25 thousand every month just like that. His number is in mamu’s ( Karan Rajput) diary.
- ...
- Question: Would you accompany Rajput when he used to go to collect money ?
- Surendra: Yes.
- Question: How would they pay, cheque or cash?
- Surendra: Cheque.
- Question: How much money would come?
- Surendra: They gave twice in Nepal.
- Question: When you would go to Okhla was the amount fixed?
- Surendra: Later they fixed it at 20 thousand. Initially he would 60 thousand sometime up to one or two lakh. Sharma had taken his (Karan Rajput) life’s entire responsibility.
Another witness, the electrician Shivdas Yadav, was standing behind the bar when the murder occurred. In his initial statement, subsequently retracted, he also claimed to have witnessed the murder by Manu. At some point before the trial, Shivdas also came into some money with which and opened an electrician's business in Uttar Pradesh. Recently, when a journalist from Tehelka called Shivdas posing to be Jessica Lal's grieving sister, Shivdas admitted that his initial confession, and that of the others, were all true, and that he was scared of what might happen to him were he to tell the truth.
Another witness, Shyan Munshi, who was serving behind the bar with Jessica, had signed an affidavit with the police witnessing the murder. However, in court he said that he did not know Hindi and could not tell what he had signed - and then he changed the story entirely. Subsequently it turned out that he had acted in a number of hindi-speaking films. When a reporter posing as a casting director for a foreign film venture approached him, he was very candid about knowing Hindi well.:
- Munshi : There is a minor difference between grammar of Hindi and Bengali. Like in Hindi word `car’ is feminine gender while in Bengali it’s neutral gender.
Shyan was also recently detained while trying to leave the country illegally.
In the High Court trial, these exposés have raised hopes that evidence will now be uncovered of the cover-up - in terms of cheque payments and other connections. Also, Venod Sharma's mobile phone number was found among the numbers listed on Karan Rajput's mobile; these calls could also be traced.
Venod Sharma Resigns
On October 6, 2006, Venod Sharma, under increasing pressure in parliament based on his role in shielding his son, resigned from the Congress ministry in Haryana.
References
- ^ "Jessica case: Venod Sharma quits Haryana ministry". NDTV. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
- "Manu Sharma, seven others granted bail: The ninth accused fails to appear before the court". Hindu. 2006-04-19. Retrieved 2006-10-08.
- ^ "English Translation of the transcript of the news expose "Case Ke Kaatil", produced by Tehelka, and aired on Star News". Star News/Tehelka. 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
- Vineet Khare and Harinder Baweja. "Killers of Justice". Retrieved 2006-10-06.
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