Bina Ramani's request rejected

new delhi: the trial court on monday turned down the request of bina ramani, owner of the restaurant where model jessica lall was shot dead on april 29, 1999, to make a statement in addition to what she had told the lawyers during questioning. additional sessions judge r l chugh asked her to move a separate application if she wanted to make an additional statement.''all i have said so far is what they (the defence lawyers) have been asking me. can't i make a statement of my own?'' asked ramani. when a typed statement of her two-paragraph cross-examination was pushed before her to sign, ramani asked if she could add to it. ''not a word more than your signature,'' the judge said. ''if you want to say something, you should have done so during your testimony. not after it is over.... anyway if you want to make a statement now, you must move a separate application,'' the judge said. deposing as a prosecution witness, ramani on friday told the court that the man who shot dead jessica looked like manu sharma, the prime accused, but added that she wasn't sure. while identifying manu, she also identified accused amardeep singh gill alias tony, alok khanna and vikas yadav as the men who had accompanied manu to the thursday party at the tamarind court in qutab colonnade on the night jessica was killed. ramani told the court that she had seen photographs of tony, alok and vikas in the press before she was confronted with them. the defence wanted to prove that her testimony was not reliable as she was already familiar with their faces. appearing on behalf of manu, defence counsel r k naseem asked ramani if guests could come to the special thursday party without invitation. ramani replied in the negative. naseem wanted to prove that since no guest could enter without invitation, manu's presence on the night of april 29, 1999, was ruled out. besides manu sharma, eight others facing the trial in related offences are rajya sabha member d p yadav's son vikas yadav, former coca-cola executives amardeep singh gill alias tony and alok khanna, manu's uncle and former president shanker dayal sharma's close relative shyam sundar sharma, former cricketer yograj singh, businessman raja chopra, chartered accountant harvinder chopra and dr vikas gill.