The Hindu : `Sheet used to wrap Jessica was missing'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 27, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Sheet used to wrap Jessica was missing'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 26. Sub-Inspector Sunil Sharma, one of the investigating officers in the Jessica Lal murder case, today submitted before the Additional Sessions Judge, Manju Goel, that he did not find the sheet in which deceased Jessica Lal had been wrapped during her shifting from Ashlok Hospital to Apollo Hospital.

When he had seen the deceased in the mortuary of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, there were no clothes on her person, the Sub-Inspector said during his ongoing cross-examination by R.K. Naseem, counsel for Manu Sharma, the prime accused in the case.

However, the investigating officer denied a suggestion by Mr. Naseem that there was some other reason for the body having no clothes on it and that he had suppressed the true story of the case.

He denied that he had mentioned in his statement that Manu Sharma was kept in muffled face so far he was in his custody but at the same time he volunteered that he might have mentioned this fact in his case diary.

About the authenticity of the ownership of a mobile seized from the possession of Manu Sharma, the Sub-Inspector submitted that he did not verify whether the cell belonged to Manu Sharma.

Meanwhile, Mr. Naseem alleged that there had been some padding in the case during investigation by the city police.

Quoting a statement by the then Delhi Police Commissioner, Ajai Raj Sharma, in a daily published from the Capital, in which he had reportedly admitted that "there appeared be some lacunae in the Jessica Lal case,'' Mr. Naseem said that it gave credence to his apprehension.

The Commissioner had said that the Jessica Lal case had shown that the defence could exploit anything, which was away from the truth, Mr. Naseem said quoting the former Police Commissioner as having said in his statement.

Later, the court issued summons for March 3 to Surender Sharma, another investigating officer in the case, for recording of his statement in the case.

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