By IANS,
New Delhi : Manu Sharma, serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of model Jessica Lal, voluntarily returned to the Tihar Jail here Tuesday following the raging controversy over the Delhi government’s decision to grant him parole for two months.
“He surrendered voluntarily before the Tihar Jail administration just before noon today (Tuesday),” a jail official told IANS.
“However, the decision on cancelling his parole has not been taken yet,” he added.
Before surrendering Sharma also left a letter for his mother.
Sharma was granted parole Sep 22 on the ground that his mother was seriously ill and he had to attend to family business matters. He is the son of a Congress politician Venod Sharma from Haryana.
His parole was extended Oct 22 for 30 more days on Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s recommendation to Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna.
However, last Friday Sharma went partying in two New Delhi hotels – Ashok and Samrat. When the news broke, the Dikshit-led Congress government came under severe criticism for releasing Sharma on parole.
Spelling more trouble, on Saturday, his mother Shakti Rani looked hale and hearty when she was seen at the family-run Piccadilly Hotel in Chandigarh, holding a press conference about a women’s cricket tournament.
The city government Tuesday asked Delhi Police to submit a report on Sharma.
Meanwhile, Jessica Lal’s elder sister Sabrina Lal said: “He (Manu Sharma) surrendered today because of all that happened yesterday. He went back because he wanted to avoid any more controversy.”
“What has been the most disappointing thing in the whole matter was that the parole was granted on very flimsy grounds. One has to be on the lookout on what he is up to,” she added.
Neelam Katara, the mother of slain Nitish Katara, said the entire system of granting parole should be re-looked at.
“Anyone with money can take the judicial system for a ride. The entire working system of granting parole should be re-looked at. These guidelines have been there since the time of the British rule, but now times have changed and it should be re-looked at what kind of criminals are granted parole,” she said.
“And why have we suddenly become so conscious of the rights of criminals? This is a part of their punishment. This should go out as a strong message that if you commit a crime, no matter what happens – your mother falls ill or otherwise – you can’t get out of jail,” Katara added.
She has fought grittily to get her son’s murderers, who belong to rich and powerful families, convicted.
Early Tuesday, actor Arjun Rampal, who owns a fancy bar LAP at Samrat Hotel, told the media that Manu Sharma had indeed visited his bar.
“The close circuit television camera footage has shown that he had come to the pub along with one of the members Sahil Dhingra,” Rampal said adding that the CCTV footage has been given to the police.
Rampal said he has cancelled the membership of Dhingra, owner of leading apparel exporter Orient Craft, after the incident. LAP is for members only.
The police had come to LAP following a complaint against Dhingra. It was said that Dhingra had a tiff with the son of a senior police officer in F bar of the Ashok Hotel next door, following which he and Sharma went to the LAP.
The police picked up Dhingra from the bar, while Sharma managed to escape from the back door. The police later picked many people including Samir Thapar, vice president and managing director of JCT. Thapar was detained for nearly eight hours before being released.
Thapar said he was planning to sue Delhi Police for his illegal detention.
“I was detained for the wrong reasons. The policemen did not tell me the name of the person who complained against me. They just told me that they were acting on the directions of some senior police officers,” Thapar told reporters.