Prosecution on Monday sufferred a set back in Jessica Lal murder case when a witness turned hostile and told a city court that he had not seen the main accused Manu Sharma with co-accused Yograj Singh at the residence of latter's mother-in-law at Panchkula in Haryana after the murder of the ramp model. Deposing as a prosecution witness, Abhijeet Ghosal told additional sessions judge R L Chugh, “It is incorrect to suggest that I had stated to police in my alleged statement on July 15, 1999 that on May 1, 1999 Manu with another person had come to our neighbour's house.” Ghosal denied that he saw Manu and Singh talking to another person outside the residence of Gurmeet Kaur, who is the latter's mother-in-law. Lal was shot dead allegedly by Manu, son of former union minister Vinod Sharma at a South Delhi restaurant owned by NRI socialite Bina Ramani on the intervening night of April 29-30, 1999, where she had hosted a farewell party for her Canadian husband George Malihot who was to leave for world trip. Singh, a former cricketer and Punjabi film actor, has been charged with harbouring the main accused.
Ghosal identified Singh in the court but said that he did not remember if he had seen him in the house of Kaur in May 1999. The witness during the investigation of the case in his statement had allegedly said that he had seen Manu, Singh and another person in his neighbour's house after the offence. Meanwhile, the court issued bailable warrant against two witnesses Kulwinder Singh and Rupinder Singh asking them to appear before it on December 18.
Bureau Report