Murder of Jessica Lal

Jessica Lal, a model working as a celebrity barmaid, was shot dead at around 2:00 am on 30 April 1999 at a crowded party held in a restaurant overlooking the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli, New Delhi. The party featured an unlicensed bar that had run out of liquor at midnight. After midnight, Siddharth Vashisht — known as Manu Sharma, son of Haryana politician Venod Sharma — arrived with three friends and demanded liquor, offering ₹1,000. When Lal refused, Sharma fired a .22 calibre pistol at the ceiling and, after a further refusal, shot Lal in the head, killing her. Amid the ensuing confusion, Sharma and his companions — identified as Amardeep Singh Gill, Vikas Yadav, and Alok Khanna — fled the scene.

Following the shooting, Khanna and Gill were arrested on 4 May 1999, and Sharma on 6 May. The murder weapon was never recovered. Several other individuals connected to the venue and the aftermath, including socialite Bina Ramani, her husband, and her daughter Malini Ramani, were arrested and charged with operating an illegal bar; separate allegations regarding destruction of evidence against the Ramanis did not result in charges. Charge sheets were filed on 3 August 1999, with Sharma charged with murder and other offences, and Khanna, Gill, and Yadav facing lesser charges including destruction of evidence and harbouring a suspect.

In the first trial, on 21 February 2006, nine of the twelve accused — including Sharma — were acquitted after 32 prosecution witnesses turned "hostile," and after police failed to recover the murder weapon or adequately establish that two cartridges found at the scene came from the same weapon. The acquittal triggered widespread public outrage, protests, and media campaigns; former Chief Justice V. N. Khare publicly criticized the trial court's handling of the case. A September 2006 sting operation by Tehelka broadcast on STAR News suggested witnesses had been bribed or coerced into retracting testimony, naming Venod Sharma, who subsequently resigned from the Haryana cabinet.

Following an expedited appeal, the Delhi High Court, in a judgment delivered 15 December 2006, found Sharma guilty of murder, criticizing the trial judge's assessment of witness credibility, including the testimony of key witness Shayan Munshi, whose in-court account was found not credible. On 20 December 2006, Sharma was sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine; Yadav and Gill received four years' rigorous imprisonment and fines. A plea for the death penalty was rejected on the grounds the killing, while intentional, was not premeditated.

The Supreme Court of India upheld the High Court's judgment on 19 April 2010, finding the evidence proved Sharma's guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Sharma received periods of parole in 2009 and again in 2013–2014. In 2018, Jessica Lal's sister, Sabrina Lall, indicated she had no objection to his release, and in 2020 he was released from Tihar Jail on the order of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor on grounds of good behaviour. Separately, in May 2013, the Delhi High Court ordered the prosecution of Shayan Munshi and ballistics expert P. S. Manocha for perjury related to their hostile testimony.