The Hindu : New Delhi News : Re-examination of cartridges' empties sought in Jessica case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 01, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Re-examination of cartridges' empties sought in Jessica case

Staff Reporter

Police doubt earlier report which said that they were fired from two different weapons

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police have virtually sought to re-investigate the Jessica Lal murder case, informing as they did the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that they have decided to go for re-examination of empties of the two cartridges recovered from the crime scene.

Making the submission on behalf of the Delhi police, Standing Counsel Mukta Gupta submitted before a Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice R.S. Sodhi and Justice P.K. Bhasin that the police had decided to get the cartridges' empties re-examined by a board of forensic experts.

She stated that the decision to go for retesting of the empties was taken because the police had strong doubts over the earlier report,

which had said that the cartridges were fired from two different weapons.

She further submitted that the two-weapon theory cited by the forensic experts was one of the main grounds on which the trial court had acquitted all nine accused, including the prime accused, Siddharth Vashishtha alias Manu Sharma, in the case on February 21 this year.

"The police failed to recover the weapon which was used to fire at the ramp model as well as prove their theory that the two cartridges, empties of which were recovered from the spot, were fired from one weapon," the then Additional Sessions Judge S.L. Bhayana, had said while acquitting all the nine accused in the case.

The police charge sheet in the case said it was Siddharth Vashishtha alias Manu Sharma who had fired at the ramp model Jessica in the early hours of April 30, 1999.

Manu had fired two rounds, one in the air and the other at the ramp model, which had later caused the death of the thirty-year-old model, the charge sheet said.

Taking the submission by the police on record, the Bench directed the accused to file their replies to the plea by July 31.

The Bench also directed the police to initiate investigation against the Chandigarh-based doctor J.S. Bedi who had allegedly issued a fake medical certificate to Vikas Gill, one of the accused in the case, which he had used to get exemption from personal appearance in the trial proceedings on the ground of ill health.

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