PTI
 
New Delhi, Feb 22: Expressing dismay over the acquittal of nine accused of murdering model Jessical Lal, her family members said the court judgement hardly came as a surprise to them. Read: Manu acquitted in Jessica Lal murder case 
 
"We had given up hope of getting justice some time back," Sabrina, Jessica's sister, said soon after Additional Sessions Judge S L Bhayana acquitted the nine accused here as the Delhi Police failed to prove charges against Manu Sharma, son of Haryana Minister Vinod Sharma and main accused in the murder case, and eight others.

"The judgement has come as a closure of something that was going on for the past seven years. The way this case was progressing, we had given up all hope of getting justice," an emotionally-choked Sabrina said.

"You will find that at every stage things had gone against us," she added.

Three of the key eyewitnesses - model-turned-actor Shayan Munshi, Karan Rajput and electrician Shiv Lal Yadav - had turned hostile in court after identifying prime accused Manu Sharma before police.

Sabrina also said the family had not decided about its next step in the case.

Jessica Lal was shot allegedly by Manu Sharma on April 29, 1999, after she refused to serve him a drink at a south Delhi bar functioning without a licence where she was filling in as a bartender. The bar, Tamarind Court, run by socialite Bina Ramani, has since shut down.
 

Earlier report:

Manu Sharma acquitted in Jessica Lal murder case
 
PTI
 
New Delhi: Manu Sharma, son of Haryana Minister Vinod Sharma and main accused in the sensational seven-year-old Jessica Lal murder case, was on Tuesday acquitted with eight others by a Delhi Court which held that the police had failed to prove its case.

Those acquitted included Vikas Yadav, son of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, and the main accused in another sensational case – the murder of Nitish Katara, who was a friend of his sister.

Delivering the verdict, additional sessions judge S L Bhayana said the accused had to be acquitted as three key witnesses -- model-turned actor Shayan Munshi, Karan Rajput and Shiv Das, the electrician at the restaurant where the model was shot dead -- had turned hostile.

The prosecution had alleged that Jessica Lal was shot dead by Manu Sharma at the Tamarind Court restaurant owned by socialite Bina Ramani at Qutub Colonnade in Delhi on the intervening night of April 29-30, 1999.

It was alleged that the victim, who was working as a bartender, was shot by Manu alias Siddharth Vashisht as she had refused to serve him liquor at the party hosted by Ramani for her Canadian husband George Malihote, who was to leave India the next day.

Besides Manu and Vikas, others who faced the trial were -- Amardeep Singh Gill alias Tony, Aloke Khanna (both senior officials in a leading soft drink company), Shyam Sunder Sharma (relative of former President Shankar Dayal Sharma), Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja Chopra, and former Indian cricketer Yograj Singh.

Two accused, Ravinder Krishan Sudan alias Titu and Dhanraj, were declared as proclaimed offenders by the court in the case.