Shayan Munshi

Vikas Yadav (top) and Tony Gill, who were also convicted

New Delhi, Dec. 18: Shayan Munshi was “won over” by Manu Sharma to change his testimony in the Jessica Lal murder, Delhi High Court said today.

The bench of Justices R.S. Sodhi and P.K. Bhasin made it clear while convicting Manu Sharma and co-accused Vikas Yadav and Tony Gill that their February acquittal by a trial court was largely because of Shayan’s “lies”.

“We have no doubt that in this (case) he is telling a complete lie,” the court said in its 61-page judgment.

Contacted over telephone by The Telegraph, Shayan said he had not read the judgment and would not comment.

“I stand by my testimony in court. I have not lied,” he said.

Shayan’s testimony was crucial as he initially said in his police statement that he saw Sharma shoot Jessica. He was the person who filed the FIR after making arrangements for Jessica to be taken to hospital.

Shayan, who had been serving liquor at Tamarind Court with Jessica when she was shot in 1999, was among the first few persons police approached to be their witness.

From his initial police statement, dictated to sub-inspector Sunil Kumar of Mehrauli police station, it seemed clear that Manu had pulled his revolver out after Jessica refused to serve him whisky.

“On her refusal, he first shot at the ceiling, and then at her,” the statement said.

But by the time he testified before the trial court, his version had changed.

He then claimed there were two persons at the bar asking Jessica for whisky. One (identified as Manu) shot with a gun in the air. The other (identified as Tony Gill, the “tall Sikh gentleman defence lawyer Ram Jethmalani hinted was the murderer) shot Jessica from another gun.

His turnaround, the high court said, not only led to the acquittal of the accused but also misled the trial court by lending credibility to the two-gun theory.

Shayan’s claim that he had dictated his statement in English and could not confirm the copy produced in court as it was in Hindi was “concocted”, the court said.

The fact that Shayan disputed the police statement four months after it was first produced in court showed it was “an afterthought”, the judges said.

Socialite Bina Ramani, who was present when Shayan dictated his statement, has confirmed the original statement.

“There is no doubt the new story was a total lie at the instance of the accused,” the court said.