M A I N   N E W S

Jessica Case
29 hostile witnesses get time to explain flip-flop
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, February 1
The Delhi High Court today gave two weeks’ time to all the 29 hostile witnesses in Jessica Lall murder case to submit their replies why they had turned hostile during cross-examination by the trial court after they made their appearance.

A Bench of Mr Justice R.S. Sodhi and Mr Justice P.K. Bhasin, who had convicted key accused Manu Sharma and two of his friends — Vikas Yadav and Amardeep Singh Gill — in the high profile case on December 20 last, had sought their presence to explain why they retracted their statements before the trial judge.

Their presence was made possible after the court had issued non-bailable warrants to a few of them when they failed to appear in the morning, except model and TV actor Shyan Munshi.

The court had sought the presence of all hostile witnesses after it had pronounced the judgement in the case. It sought their replies why proceedings should not be initiated against them for retracting from their statements and interfering in the justice delivery system.

While fixing the next hearing on February 19, the court directed the Delhi Police standing counsel Mukta Gupta to provide the copies of their statements recorded by the police under Section 161 during investigation, which they retracted while their statements were recorded in the trial court under Section 164.

The copies of their testimony before the trial court were also asked to be made available to them so that they could themselves see the difference in their two statements prior to filing of their replies.

The court issued non-bailable warrants against Vrun Shah, Mukesh Saini and Narayan Singh when they failed to appear today as per the direction, which ultimately ensured their presence in the afternoon..

The court had issued summons to 32 of the hostile witnesses but three — Karan Rajput, Parikshit Sagar and Rupinder Singh Gill — were dead.

Andaleeb Sehgal facing a probe in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam, Shiv Dass Yadav (electrician), Prem Sagar Minocha, a ballistic expert, and Manu’s servant Shankar Mukhia, Jagannath Jha were the other witnesses who appeared in the court.

Manu was found guilty of shooting Jessica Lall at Tamrind Court restaurant here on April 29, 1999, night after she refused to serve him liquor while working as a bar tender there.