New Delhi [India], September 6 (ANI): Former IPS officer Amod Kumar Kanth has said that the campaign for justice after the trial court acquitted all the accused in the Jessica Lal murder case "was a good thing" and noted that the media, which scrutinized and covered every bit of trial and investigation, has a role to play.
The High Court, which reversed the trial court's verdict in December 2006, awarded life imprisonment to Manu Sharma, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
Lal was shot dead in April 1999 by Manu Sharma after she refused to serve a drink to him at a late-night party at a restaurant at Qutub Colonnade in south Delhi's Mehrauli.
Following the trial court's order in February 2006, newspapers carried headlines 'no one killed Jessica' and a candle march was also organised to seek justice.
In an interview with ANI, Kanth, who served as DGP of Arunachal Pradesh and Goa and is a social activist, talked about media scrutiny and called it a "positive thing".
"If such things are happening in the world of crime, criminality, and justice system, why not people should know about it? So that kind of campaign, this was the first ever campaign. That candlelight campaign and all that stuff started nationally. That's a good thing which happened. Secondly, if media scrutinized and covered every bit of trial, every bit of investigation, I mean, nothing wrong in it. Because I feel, personally, I feel that media has a role to play," he said.
Kanth was the Joint Commissioner of Police, Southern Range, when the incident happened.
"I recall that morning, the night before, about 2 o'clock, 2.30, Jessica Lal was killed. And then in the morning, I received three phone calls about which I have talked in my book...I get call early in the morning, you know, in Delhi police, other police forces also. The SHOs report to their seniors, they report to their SP or Deputy Commissioner of Police and then upwards. So I was at that time, I was very there as a Joint Commissioner of Police. So several districts reported to me," he said.
He said apart from his police team, two other people, including his batchmate YS Dadwal, called him about the incident.
Bina and Malini Ramani, a mother-daughter duo, were socialites known for their ability to establish hotspots that attracted celebrities. Bina Ramani recognised the potential of the real estate in Hauz Khas Village. But she relocated to the area around the Qutub Minar to open a new type of party spot. She later came up with the unique idea of hosting "Thursday parties" to popularise the destination.
On April 29, 1999, there was another Thursday party. "It wasn't meant for this kind of party at all. And no permissions were there for this kind of activity which was going on. So all these people they came through word of mouth. Even Manu Sharma and Vikas Yadav, we asked them, how did they arrive? Then they said it was talk of the town...everyone knew about it," Kanth said.
Kanth said Manu Sharma left the vehicle there, ran on foot and they realised that it could be the starting point of investigation.
The former police official recalled that when an attempt was made to pick up the vehicle, the home guard of Delhi Police hit the windshield of the vehicle.
"He was very smart. He kept a watch. He hit the windshield of the vehicle and it broke down. It broke and he could remember the number also. So this number was with us," he said.
Manu Sharma was released from jail in 2020 for "satisfactory jail conduct". (ANI)