Jessica Lal

Jessica Lal (5 January 1965 – 30 April 1999) was a model in New Delhi who was working as a celebrity barmaid at a crowded socialite party when she was shot dead at around 2:00 am on 30 April 1999.

Dozens of witnesses pointed to Siddharth Vashisht, also known as Manu Sharma, the son of Venod Sharma, a wealthy and influential Member of Parliament from Haryana, as the murderer.

Manu Sharma was later convicted for the murder and sentenced to life.

In the first trial, Manu Sharma was acquitted, leading to a huge uproar in the country, despite strong circumstantial evidence to convict the accused, questioning the acquittal, claiming it was not based on merit.

Following intense media and public pressure, the prosecution appealed and the Delhi High Court conducted proceedings on a fast track with daily hearings conducted over 25 days.

The trial court judgment was overturned, and Manu Sharma was found guilty of having murdered Lal.

On 29 April 1999, Lal was one of several models working at an unlicensed bar at a party in a restaurant overlooking the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli.

The bar ran out of liquor at midnight which it only served till 12.30 am.

After midnight, Manu Sharma walked in with three friends and demanded to be served liquor, offering ₹ 1000 for it.

Lal refused to do so and Sharma then fired a .22 calibre pistol at the ceiling as an intimidatory act.

Lal refused again, after which Sharma fired again and the second bullet hit Lal in the head, killing her.

Due to confusion, a fight followed the shooting, during which Sharma and his friends — Amardeep Singh Gill, Vikas Yadav, and Alok Khanna — left the scene.

Soon after the shooting, contact could not be made with Sharma's family and the family was absconding.

After eluding police for a few days Khanna and Gill were arrested on 4 May and Sharma on 6 May with the assistance of accomplices.

The murder weapon was not recovered and was thought to have been passed on to a friend who had been visiting from the US and who may subsequently have returned there.

The case by now involved several prominent people.

Manu Sharma himself was the son of Venod Sharma, an Indian National Congress member, who subsequently resigned from INC.

Yadav was the son of state politician, D. P. Yadav.

Bina Ramani was a socialite and fashion designer who had redeveloped the premises of the shooting.

Her daughter Malini Ramani knew Lal as a fellow-model.

Singh managed the distribution of Maaza in Chandigarh.

Amit Jhigan, an accomplice of Sharma, was arrested on 8 May and charged with conspiring to destroy evidence, as it was believed that he had retrieved the pistol from its original hiding place near the bar.

While he was remanded in custody, Yadav was still at large and it had also proved impossible to locate his father, who had promised to deliver his son to the police.

Ramani, her husband, and her daughter Malini were arrested on the same day as Jhigan.

They were charged with operating an illegal bar and, although released on bail, had to surrender their passports.

There were several lines of inquiry regarding the family, including whether or not Ramani — a UK national — had the necessary permits to operate a business in India.

Another concern was to establish whether or not she had concealed evidence by ordering the cleaning up of blood at the premises, although by 19 May it had been announced that charges relating to this alleged destruction of evidence could not be brought.

Yadav was able to obtain Anticipatory bail and presented himself to Delhi police on 19 May without arrest.

He claimed to have been in Mumbai and elsewhere during the previous few weeks, and refused to comment regarding whether he had been in contact with his father.

He admitted that Sharma had stayed with him on the night of the murder but denied being present himself at the Tamarind Club or having any knowledge of the events that had occurred there until the next day, when he told Sharma to surrender to the police.

Subsequently, he had short spells in custody and longer periods when he was freed on bail, with decisions and overturnings of them being made in various court hearings.

Charge sheets were filed with the court on 3 August 1999.

Sharma was charged with murder, destruction of evidence and other offences, while Khanna, Gill and Yadav faced lesser charges, including destruction of evidence, conspiracy and harbouring a suspect.

Others similarly charged were Shyam Sunder Sharma, Amit Jhingan, Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja Chopra, Ravinder Krishan Sudan and Dhanraj.

The last three named had not yet been apprehended.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 20 December 2006.

Seven years after the case was opened, on 21 February 2006, nine of the twelve accused were acquitted, including Sharma.

Jhingan had already been discharged and both Ravinder Kishan Sudan and Dhanraj, were still at large.

The prosecution had been affected by 32 of their witnesses becoming "hostile".

On 2 June 2020 Manu Sharma was released from Tihar Jail by Delhi LG on grounds of good behavior.