Manu Sharma

Siddharth Vashisht
Born	1977 (1977)
Alias(es)	Manu Sharma
Motive	Refusal to be served alcohol
Charge(s)	Murder
Conviction(s)	18 December 2006
Penalty	Life imprisonment
Status	Convicted
Occupation	Pub owner
Parents	Venod Sharma (father) Shakti Rani Sharma (mother)

Siddharth Vashisht (born 1977), better known as Manu Sharma, is a convicted murderer, serving life imprisonment for the 1999 murder of model Jessica Lall. Sharma is the son of the former Indian minister Venod Sharma.^[1]

Manu Sharma is one of several high-profile criminals brought to trial in India through media activism. Along with that of some other murderers, his conviction is viewed as demonstrating the impact of the general public in correcting imbalances in the Indian legal process.^[2]

Personal life

Manu Sharma was born in 1977 to Venod Sharma and Shakti Rani Sharma. His father was a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha in the 1990s, elected on an Indian National Congress ticket. He was later elected to the Haryana legislature.^[1] His uncle is the son-in-law of former President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma.^[3] The family owns two sugar mills, at Indri in Haryana, and Patran in Punjab.^[4]

Sharma claims to be asthmatic and was given special attention in his childhood.^[5] He was educated at the elite Mayo College in Ajmer. He then completed two years of undergraduate courses in Commerce at a college in Chandigarh.^[6] Manu initially thought of completing an MBA, but he joined the family business instead. His father then directed him to manage the family mill at Bhadson in Karnal, some 150 kilometres (93 mi) away.^[5]

Since the late 1990s, Sharma also built up the Piccadilly hotel chain^[7] including the Blue Ice pub-cum-discothèque in Chandigarh (opened in 2002), and a theatre.^[8]

Murder and conviction

Main article: Murder of Jessica Lall

In the late 1990s, Manu Sharma was known to be a regular party-goer in Delhi.^[6] On 29 April 1999, at 2 am, Jessica Lal, who had closed sales at an unlicensed bar at a party as the bar had run out of liquor, refused to serve liquor to Manu Sharma despite him offering her 1000 rupees. Sharma then produced a .22 pistol and fired twice: the first bullet hit the ceiling and the second hit Lal in the head and killed her.^[9][10] Sharma was arrested and charged with murder, destruction of evidence and other offences.^[10] During the trial, 32 witnesses turned "hostile". Seven years after the case was opened, on 21 February 2006, Sharma and eight others of the twelve accused were acquitted. The trial judge commented after the outcome that

“	The court has acquitted them because the Delhi police failed to sustain the grounds on which they had built up their case. The police failed to recover the weapon which was used to fire at Jessica Lal as well as prove their theory that the two cartridges, emptied shells of which were recovered from the spot, were fired from one weapon.	”
—Trial court judge, [11]

After his acquittal by the trial court, Sharma was ostracized, with SMS campaigns being sent out to boycott all establishments that the Sharmas had owned.^[12] The acquittal led to widespread public outcry. In March 2006, the case was re-admitted in the Delhi High Court where it was tried on a fast-track basis. Among the evidence re-introduced were two spent cartridges recovered from Manu's car, the ballistic analysis for one of which showed it as matching the bullet recovered from Lall's skull.^[13] This evidence had been overlooked by the trial court. On 18 December 2006, The High Court ruled Manu Sharma guilty of murdering Jessica Lall and sentenced him to life imprisonment. After conviction, Manu was imprisoned in the Tihar Jail. Sharma appealed to the Supreme Court of India through his counsel Ram Jethmalani. However, the SC upheld his sentence of life imprisonment on April 19 2010.^[14]

Current status

Sharma was incarcerated in the Tihar Jail along with the co-accused Vikas Yadav and Amardeep Singh Gill, who had been sentenced for destroying evidence.^[15] Along with another high-profile convict, Santosh Kumar Singh, Sharma is involved in helping other prisoners draft legal appeals.^[16] On September 24, 2009 Delhi Lieutenant Governor granted Manu Sharma 30-day parole from jail, on the grounds that Sharma needed to attend to his ailing mother, attend the last rites of his grandmother^[17] and also look after the family business which was suffering in his absence.^[18] But, the basis for the parole was proved unfounded as Sharma's grandmother had already died in 2008. During the second extension of the parole for another 30 days, Sharma was seen partying in a discotheque in Delhi. His mother, whose illness was also the basis for the parole, was seen at a media briefing promoting a ladies cricket tournament at his family-run hotel in Chandigarh.^[19] In November 2009, Chief Minister Sheila Dixit came under criticism for granting parole to Manu Sharma after media reports of him visiting night clubs in Delhi emerged. During the parole he got involved in a brawl with son of police commissioner of Delhi.

After a public uproar that he violated parole norms, the Delhi Government had to cancel his parole and on November 10, 2009 Manu returned to Tihar Jail after violation of his parole was confirmed.^[20][21]

Supreme Court of India on 19 April 2010 upheld the life sentence given to Manu Sharma for the murder of model Jessica Lall.

On 30 August 2010 Manu Sharma opened a NGO named Siddhartha Vashishta Charitable Trust which is managed by his mother Shakti Rani Sharma and brother Kartik Sharma, the trust is dedicated to causes like child education, cancer awareness, rehabilitation of prisoners, etc. Lodged in Tihar Jail, he came up with the idea of a trust which claims to have so far provided social assistance to at least 200 children of inmates. Recently the trust helped a 3-year-old girl who had a hole in her heart, was admitted to AIIMS to undergo a heart transplant and save her life. ^{[22] [23]}

In November 2011, Sharma moved the Delhi High Court for parole to attend the marriage of his younger brother, on November 21^[24], and on November 15, 2011, was granted a parole for 5 days, confining him to the cities of Karnal, Chandigarh and Ambala and warning him not to visit any night club or discotheque.^[25][26]

See also

• Murder of Jessica Lall
• Vikas Yadav

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Homicide conviction punctures legal armour of India’s elite". Gulf Times. 2008-09-05. http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=239728&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
2. ^ "Courts see through flip-flops of witnesses - BMW case: Sanjeev Nanda found guilty". Hindustan Times. 10 September 2008. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=12dd04bf-0796-4b52-bf3d-d4a291ebd120&ParentID=63d4699b-619d-49a4-9c0a-4adc214bf63c&&Headline=Courts+see+through+flip-flops+of+witnesses. Retrieved 2008-09-13. 
3. ^ "Manu Sharma, Vikas Yadav and Gill convicted in Jessica Lal murder case". The Hindu. 2006-12-19. http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/19/stories/2006121911590100.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
4. ^ "It's all silent at Manu Sharma's house". Rediff.com. 2006-12-19. http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/19jessica.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Wanton Ways". India Today. 1999-05-30. http://www.india-today.com/itoday/31051999/crime.html. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Manu Sharma was a regular visitor at Qutab Colonnade". Indian Express. 1999-05-06. http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990506/ige06079.html. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
7. ^ "Manu? Not at home. Probably at his disco-bar". Tehelka. 2006-03-04. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main16.asp?filename=Ne030406Manu_Not.asp. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
8. ^ "After bail, it's Blue Ice for Manu Sharma". Indian Express (Express Group). 2006-02-24. http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=63389. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
9. ^ Murder of a Model India Today, 17 May 1999.
10. ^ ^{a b} Manu Sharma, Vikas Yadav charged with Jessica Lal's murder Rediff.com, 3 August 1999.
11. ^ All accused acquitted in Jessica Lal murder case The Hindu, Feb 22, 2006.
12. ^ "Manu Sharma - acquitted, but shunned". Times of India (Times Group). 2006-03-03. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1436468.cms. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
13. ^ Tanu Sharma (2006-10-04). "Getting Away With Murder: Jessica case: Court comes down hard on witnesses". Indian Express. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=203723. Retrieved 2008-09-15. 
14. ^ "Jessica murder case: SC refuses bail to Manu Sharma". Outlook India. 2008-05-12. http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=570289. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
15. ^ "Manu wants mattress, heater; sorry, says jail". 2006-12-20. http://www.andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=15687. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
16. ^ "Relaxed Manu helps inmates in Tihar". Times of India. 2006-12-27. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Relaxed_Manu_helps_inmates_in_Tihar/articleshow/940024.cms. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
17. ^ Parole’s ins and outs: to perform ritual for late grandmother, attend to aged mother, The Indian Express, November 11 2009, Retrieved November 14, 2011
18. ^ [1]
19. ^ Jessica case: HC to hear Manu Sharma's parole plea, IBN Live, November 14 2011, Retrieved November 14, 2011
20. ^ "Manu Sharma partying hard, yet CM defends parole". Times of India. 10 November 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Manu-Sharma-partying-hard-yet-CM-defends-parole/articleshow/5213730.cms. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
21. ^ "Jessica's killer is partying, thanks to Sheila Dikshit". The Economic Times. 10 November 2009. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Jessicas-killer-is-partying-thanks-to-Sheila-Dikshit/articleshow/5214130.cms. Retrieved 2009-11-10.  He surrendered voluntarily before the Tihar Jail administration just before noon on 10th November 2009, two weeks before his parole ended due to widespread reports by media on his visit to two clubs, one apparently being owned by Arjun Rampal, a Bollywood actor. Legal experts are of the opinion that he has to be tried for perjury
22. ^ <http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-21/people/30183745_1_aiims-life-imprisonment-child-education.
23. ^ <http://www.indianexpress.com/news/manu-sharmas-trust-showcases-tihar-art-he/814950/
24. ^ Police oppose Manu Sharma's parole plea, The Pioneer, November 14 2011, Retrieved November 14, 2011
25. ^ Manu Sharma granted parole for five days, Times of India, November 16, 2011. Retrieved November 17, 2011
26. ^ Delhi HC grants parole to Manu Sharma, serving life for Jessica Lall killing, The Hindu, November 16, 2011. Retrieved November 17, 2011

External links

• Wanton Ways

Persondata
Name	Sharma, Manu
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1977
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death