Jessica Lal case: SC upholds Manu Sharma

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the verdict in the Jessica Lall murder case. Prime accused Manu Sharma had challenged his conviction and life sentence awarded by the Delhi High Court.

The apex court also upheld the conviction of two other accused in the case Vikas Yadav and Amarjeet Singh Gill for destruction of evidence.
A bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Swantanter Kumar had reserved its verdict on Feb 18 after hearing arguments from both sides. Former union law minister Ram Jethmalani was among those who appeared for Sharma, while Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam appeared for the Delhi Police.
Endorsing the high court verdict, Subramaniam submitted that there was sufficient evidence to prove Sharma's role in the killing of the ramp model in socialite Bina Ramani's restaurant Tamarind Court in South Delhi on April 29-30 1999.
Manu Sharma had challenged his conviction and life sentence awarded by the Delhi High Court in December 2006.
Defending Sharma, Jethmalani sought scrapping of the high court verdict, which had set aside the trial court judgement acquitting the accused. Jethmalani contended that the high court had reversed the trial court verdict under media pressure.
Visiting the restaurant with some of his friends, Sharma had allegedly opened fire on Lall following a tiff over his demand for a drink, when the restaurant was to close for the day.