‘SUPERFICIAL’ set? (From top) Rohit Bal, Yograj Singh, Andaleeb Sehgal, Shayan Munshi

New Delhi, Dec. 21: They are the undeclared aristocracy in an upwardly mobile India, the Beautiful People lending sheen to the society and lifestyle glossies.

The country’s Page 3 crowd now stand accused of “superficiality” and “selfishness” by Delhi High Court, which used stinging words against them as it delivered the judgment in the Jessica Lal murder.

“All of these people claim to call themselves socialites, but did not have the courage to either face the shooter or raise a finger to apprehend the culprit,” the court observed.

Over 200 people are believed to have been at Tamarind Court when Jessica was shot. Not all of them are on the police charge-sheet, but to the court the smart set clearly featured among those “responsible for allowing Manu Sharma to escape law for so long”.

So who were there that night?

Shayan Munshi was right next to Jessica when the bullets were fired. He told police he saw Manu shoot her, but retracted in court.

Others, including cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh — himself a former Test player — also received sharp raps.

Yograj, the prosecution believes, knew Manu’s father — former minister Venod Sharma — and tried to assist the young man escape the scene of crime.

Yograj was acquitted by the trial court. But Justice R.S. Sodhi, as he read out the high court judgment, made it clear that this was only because the police had failed to gather evidence against him.

Andaleeb Sehgal, of the Volcker oil-for-food “fame”, was also at Tamarind Court that night. His testimony, the prosecution believes, could have helped establish Manu’s presence at the scene of crime.

“More important, he initially claimed he saw Manu pull out his gun,” says the report of the special investigation team (SIT) that probed the loopholes “created artificially” in the case.

Like Shayan, Andaleeb turned hostile and awaits a high court notice to explain his turn-around.

One other guest at the party was fashion designer Rohit Bal, who was the first person to contact the police control room van and inform officers about the shooting. “His inability to help in the case is doubtful,” the court said.

A senior SIT member told The Telegraph that although Bal is not on the list of hostile witnesses, he was “far from helpful” during the investigation.

“Not just him, most of the high-society people who were there would come to us with prepared answers. Honest answers could have shed a substantial amount of light.”

Jessica’s sister Sabrina agrees. “Shayan and many others there saw the shooting... they’ve told me as much. They said they saw him (Manu) pull out his gun and shoot Jessica. A week later, they had changed their tunes.”

Bina Ramani and her family, the only “socialites” to receive praise, told the court they had screamed for help after the shooting, but no one came forward.