 Summary of this article
- Manu Sharma, convicted for Jessica Lall’s 1999 murder, is released in June 2020 after serving over 16 years.
- His Indri Diwali Collector’s Edition 2025 whisky wins Best World Whisky at Las Vegas Global Spirits Awards.
- The award sparks renewed public debate over Sharma’s past and justice in high-profile Indian cases.
Manu Sharma’s whisky brand winning a top international award this week has revived memories of one of India’s most watched murder cases — the 1999 killing of model Jessica Lall in New Delhi.
Sharma, born Sidhartha Vashisht and known publicly as Manu Sharma, was convicted of shooting Lall after she refused to serve him alcohol at a private party.
The incident took place on April 30, 1999, at the Tamarind Court café in Delhi’s Mehrauli area. When the bar ran out of liquor, Sharma — the son of Congress politician Venod Sharma, demanded a drink, offered money, and on being refused, drew a pistol and fired twice. The second bullet struck Lall in the head; she died in hospital soon after.
Sharma surrendered to police in Chandigarh on May 6, 1999, and was taken into custody under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
In February 2006, a Delhi trial court acquitted him and eight others, citing lack of corroborative evidence and hostile witnesses. The verdict provoked public anger and widespread protests amplified by television and newspaper campaigns. Later that year, a Tehelka sting operation suggested witnesses had been bribed or pressured to retract statements, renewing outrage. Responding to the public reaction, the Delhi High Court reopened the matter. On December 20, 2006, Justices R.S. Sodhi and P.K. Bhasin overturned the acquittal and sentenced Sharma to life imprisonment, holding that eyewitness and ballistic evidence clearly proved guilt.
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The Supreme Court upheld that decision in April 2010. Sharma remained in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for almost 17 years. While incarcerated, he completed higher-education programmes and worked through the Siddhartha Vashishta Charitable Trust (SVCT), a prisoner-rehabilitation and child-welfare initiative founded in his name. |
