Dikshit on defensive after parole decision

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has landed in an embarrassing situation for recommending parole to a murder convict who is the son of a senior Congress party leader.

Manu Sharma, son of former Haryana minister Vinod Sharma, is serving a life term at the Tihar Jail in the capital for the murder of model Jessica Lall at a south Delhi bar on April 29, 1999.

A defensive Dikshit asserted that there was nothing illegal in parole given to Sharma, and insisted whatever steps had been taken were as per legal procedure after it came to light that she had recommended extension of Sharma's parole.

Sharma's one-month parole ends on November 22.

What has baffled legal circles is that Sharma got parole by giving false information about his mother's critical illness. His mother, Shakti Rani Sharma, looked perfectly alright while addressing a press conference at a Chandigarh hotel on Saturday in her capacity as general-secretary of the Chandigarh Women's Cricket Association, while Sharma himself was spotted at a south Delhi-based night club on the intervening night of November 6 and 7.

Vinod Sharma, a close associate of Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had resigned as a minister after his son was held guilty for Lall's murder over her refusal to serve him a drink. Lall had been working as a celebrity bartender on the fateful night.

Vinod Sharma was accused of using his position and money to influence the investigations and secured his son's release in the lower court in February 2006. The Delhi High Court overruled the decision and sentenced Manu to a life term in December 2006.

Dikshit said that she had signed the recommendation based on reports from jail and police authorities, who had approved his application in view of his good behaviour.

Manu has been in prison for close to three years and had applied for parole for the first time.

Legal experts are demanding the cancellation of Sharma's parole and asking whether Dikshit would have been as lenient in recommending extension of parole had Manu not been a family member of a senior Congress leader.

Jessica Lall's family, expressing shock at the decision, said people like Manu Sharma invariably used their influence to find some way or another to flout the law.