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CRIME: JESSICA LALL CASE
Long Way to Go Still
The body blow to
the prosecution had, in fact, come a couple of months earlier when Munshi
turned hostile. According to the police, Munshi had been serving liquor
alongside Jessica at the bar. He was the one who lodged the FIR in the
case, and had carried Jessica's limp body to the hospital. The FIR had
stated that he had witnessed the killing from point-blank range. He had
even identified Manu Sharma and his friends from photographs. On May 3
this year, Munshi denied having served liquor. Crucially, he introduced
another "killer" into the scene. Admitting that a man in a white
T-shirt had whipped out a pistol and fired in the air, Munshi said that
"another gentleman in light-coloured clothes shot at Jessica".
He then delivered the coup de grace: Sharma, he said, wasn't the man wearing
a white T-shirt. The police says that if this is a fact then Munshi could
have mentioned it anytime during the past two years, but didn't.
| WITNESS THE CHANGE: A
sea of difference lies between what key witnesses told the police
in April 1999 and what they said under oath in court recently
|
| THEN |
SHAYAN MUNSHI |
NOW |
|
"The man shot
at Jessica. I am able to identify the man, who I am told is Manu
Sharma."
|
|
"He
fired a shot in the air. But another man in light-coloured clothes
shot Jessica."
|
| "Jessica
told him no drink was possible. Angry, he pulled out a pistol and
shot Jessica."
|
KARAN RAJPUT
 |
"I was not
in Delhi that day and the question of going to the Colonnade doesn't
arise."
|
|
"I had met
the man in the white T-shirt who was later identified as Manu Sharma."
|
PARIKSHIT SAGAR 
|
"I noticed
Jessica was serving drinks. I left early. I never met any of the
accused."
|
|
"The stocky
man in white T-shirt shot Jessica. He first fired in the air, then
at her."
|
SHIV DASS 
|
"I was on the terrace
when I heard sounds ... I came down, saw Jessica lying on floor." |
There were others who went back on their statements:
Shiv Dass Yadav, an electrician, and Karan Rajput, a manager at a Malad,
Mumbai, restaurant who was at the Colonnade on Thursday evening. Both
had initially seen the "stocky, fair man in the white T-shirt and
jeans whip out a pistol and shoot twice, the second time at Jessica".
Both had identified Sharma through pictures. Two years later, though,
they were singing a different tune. Dass said he hadn't seen the stocky
man talking to Jessica; Rajput went one step further, he said he wasn't
even in Delhi on April 29, 1999 so the question of his being at the Colonnade
never arose.
Along with Munshi's "second man" theory,
curiously, was introduced a "second weapon" element to the case
by the Central Forensic Science Laboratary. Rup Singh, principal scientific
officer (Ballistics), in his report of August 18, 1999 said that two .22
cartridge cases appear to have been fired from two different .22 calibre
standard firearms. A second opinion from the Rajasthan Forensic Science
Laboratory on February 4, 2000, however, said, "The two cartridge
cases (C/1 and C/2) appear to have been fired from (one) pistol."
Malini's deposition, amid all the setbacks that
the prosecution faced in recent times is therefore being seen as a high
point. Says Jessica's sister Sabrina: "It took a courageous woman
to stand firm when everyone else buckled." Adds ACP Sanjay Bhatia:
"That Manu was infuriated at not getting a drink is now established.
He has been identified. Munshi running out to announce the shoot-out is
admitted. It's a positive turn to the case."
But the road ahead is long. The investigators
need to prove the presence of all the witnesses at the scene of the murder.
If they lied on oath, then perjury needs to be established. The second
weapon and second killer theories have to be demolished. All circumstantial
evidence must be put together to show that an entire system was being
subverted by people with a lot of clout. Till these things happen, the
soul of the dead won't rest easy.
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