'A liar, Shayan won over by Manu'

Rahul Chhabra / TNN / Dec 19, 2006, 01:18 IST

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A liar, a witness won over by Manu Sharma and the floater of an imaginary two-weapon theory.

NEW DELHI: A liar, a witness won over by Manu Sharma and the floater of an imaginary two-weapon theory. This is how Delhi High Court summed up its thoughts about Bollywood actor and hostile witness Shayan Munshi in its 61-page order.
But despite all the criticism heaped on him by a division bench, comprising Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin, a part of his testimony confirming the motive behind the shooting in Tamarind Court cafe on April 29 1999 proved crucial for convicting Manu for murder.
The bench observed: "He (Munshi) has admitted that Jessica Lall was shot at by someone on her refusing to oblige him with a drink." This, in a way, was the court's reply to defence counsel Ram Jethmalani's plea during the appeal proceedings that Jessica was shot because she challenged the manhood of the killer.
Thereafter, everything that he said in his testimony in the trial court drilled holes in the prosecution case against Manu and others.

In a scathing remark about Munshi being accompanied by Manu's former counsel during the trial — he was escorted to court by Ashok Bansal — the bench said: "This tell-tale circumstance leaves no doubt that the new story this witness has introduced during trial is an afterthought as also a total lie at the instance of the accused."
Justice Sodhi and Justice Bhasin dumped the two-weapon theory, observing: "The two-weapon theory appears to be a concoction of the defence and a manipulation of evidence, in particular that of Shayan Munshi who, for the first time in court, introduced such a story."

"He has come out with this explanation for the first time in court and we have no manner of doubt from the facts and circumstances of this case that he was won over by accused Manu Sharma," said the bench.
Munshi had been declared hostile after the prosecution told the trial court that he had deviated from his earlier statement to the police that on the fateful night it was only one person who had fired both the shots.
While deposing in the trial court, he claimed one shot was fired by one person at the roof of the restaurant while the other shot was fired by another at Jessica Lall. In the court, he pointed towards Manu Sharma and said he was not the man who had fired the first shot.
Munshi also claimed in the trial court that he can neither speak or write in Hindi and he signed the statement to the police in good faith. The high court, however, dismissed this plea, saying the S-I couldn't have concocted the statement: "Whether he had dictated his version to the sub-inspector Sunil Kumar in English or not has no significance." It pointed out that that the statement was recorded in Bina Ramani's presence.
"It is significant to note that the statement of this witness was recorded on April 30 1999 itself and thereafter he never raised any grievance at any time before any authority that the police had recorded incorrect version in his statement," the bench said.
In the court, special public prosecutor S K Saxena had claimed Munshi understood Hindi and that he had acted in Bollywood film Jhankar Beats and given interviews in Hindi.

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