Jessica Lal’s Murder Convict Manu Sharma Freed From Tihar Jail After Delhi LG Nods Early Release

Manu Sharma, the murder convict in the Jessica Lal case, was on Monday (1 June) released from Tihar jail after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal approved his premature release as recommended by the Sentence Review Board (SRB), Hindustan Times reported.

“The lieutenant governor had accepted the recommendations of the SRB meeting held on 11 May,” Sharma’s lawyer Amit Sahni was quoted as saying in reports.

Siddharth Vashishta, 43, mainly known as Manu Sharma, was the prime convict in the murder case after he shot dead model Jessica Lal on 30 April, 1999 for refusing to serve him a drink after the working hours at an unlicensed bar at a private party. Lal was tending at the bar in the party.

Sharma, son of former Union minister Venod Sharma, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court in December 2006

Sharma, in November 2019, had moved to the Delhi HC seeking his early release. In the petition filed by Sahni, he contested that despite maintaining good conduct and having spent 23 years in prison, the SRB did not approve his release four times in an “unfair and unlawful manner.”

The Delhi HC later asked the SRB to reconsider Sharma’s request in its upcoming meeting on 11 May. Lal’s sister Sabrina earlier last month also said she had forgiven Sharma and he had been punished from his deeds.