Case lodged against Shayan Munshi

Cases have been filed before a court here seeking prosecution of Bollywood actor Shayan Munshi and a ballistic expert for turning hostile in the Jessica Lall murder case.

Two complaints against Munshi and ballistic expert Prem Kumar Manocha were filed by the Delhi High Court registrar before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Prakash on the basis of March 22 high court order directing their prosecution for perjury.

Munshi, who was led as primary witness of prosecution in the case, and Manocha are accused of lying on oath during trial before the Sessions court and introducing the ‘two-gun theory’, which was the primary defence taken by the convicts.

Seeking Munshi’s prosecution under section 193 IPC (giving false evidence in judicial proceedings), the complaint says, “This change of statement by him was to clearly align himself with a defence taken by accused in trial that there were two persons at the spot with firearms and that the two shots had been fired from separate firearms. The evidence of accused Shayan Munshi was on a material and critical position of the case.”

Munshi was at the bar counter when Lall was shot dead on intervening night of April 29-30, 1999 by Manu Sharma, son of Haryana Congress leader Venod Sharma after she refused to serve him a drink at a late night party at socialite Bina Ramani’s restaurant Tamarind Court here in South Delhi.

It was on his statement describing Sharma and the incident that police had lodged an FIR but he later retracted as he deposed in the court that the shot which hit Lall was fired by some other person. Munshi had also disowned his statement saying it was recorded in Hindi, inspite of his not knowing Hindi.

The complaint said the trial court had acquitted the accused saying from statements of Munshi and Manocha it cannot be said that the two shots were fired from the same firearm.