New Delhi: Manu Sharma who was serving a life term for the murder of Jessica Lal in South Delhi’s Mehrauli has been released. In February, this year Delhi High Court received a petition from Siddharth Vashishta or Manu Sharma for an early release. The court had sought the response of the Delhi Government for considering the release. The Lieutenant governor has allowed the release of Sharma after the Sentence review board gave their recommendations.

Jessica Lal murder

Jessica Lal was one of the several models who was working at an unlicensed bar in a restaurant owned by socialite and designer Bina Ramani in South Delhi’s Mehrauli on the night of April 29, 1999. By midnight, the bar was nearing closing time and had also run out of liquor.

Manu Sharma who is also the son of Haryana politician Venod Sharma walked up to Lal and demanded alcohol for himself and his friends. When Lal refused, he took out his .22 caliber pistol and shot at the ceiling to intimidate her.

When she refused again, he fired a bullet again, this one hit her on her head and killed her. After the incident, Sharma and his family were not reachable and were said to be absconding. Further, the weapon used for killing Lal was also not found.

 The case

By 3 August 1999, charge sheet was filed and Sharma was charged for murder, destruction of evidence, and other offences. Along with him others also were charged with offences of a lesser degree. In 2001 many of the witnesses turned hostile and after seven years in 2006, Sharma was acquitted.

This led to a national outcry and protesters demanded a retrial. The Delhi High Court then took up the case through fast track trail, Sharma was found guilty of the charges in December 2006. His lawyer then took the case to the Supreme court and the apex court upheld the judgment in 2010.

The case was riddled with obstacles with many witnesses such as actor Shayan Munshi, Karan Rajput, Shiv Lal Yadav, and ballistic experts turned hostile.  In September 2006, the news magazine Tehelka did a sting operation which revealed that witnesses were being bribed to withdraw their testimony. Sharma also received parole twice during his imprisonment once for 30 days to attend family matters and the second time to give his master’s examination.

Early release

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal on Tuesday approved the early release, Sharma, after Sentence Review Board recommendation. (SRB). Currently, Sharma is serving life imprisonment. As per initial reports,  SRB which comes under the Delhi government had recommended Sharma's premature release last month.

Sources close to the development told news agency PTI that the recommendation was made at a meeting of the SRB chaired by Delhi Home Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain on May 11. Sharma also claims to have received appreciations for his works through the Siddhartha Vashishtha Charitable Trust, his NGO.