A Delhi government panel on Thursday rejected early release pleas from the convicts in Jessical Lall, Priyadarshini Mattoo and Naina Sahni murder cases, the Hindustan Times reported. The Sentence Review Board chaired by Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain rejected 86 petitions for early release.
Siddharth Vashishta alias Manu Sharma was convicted of murdering model Jessical Lall in 1999. Former youth Congress president Sushil Sharma has been in jail for 23 years for killing his wife Naina Sahni. The case is also known as the “tandoor murder case”. Santosh Singh, the son of a police inspector general, has been serving his sentence in a semi-open jail after he was convicted for raping and murdering law student Priyadarshini Mattoo in 1996. A semi-open jail allows inmates to work and walk around the jail.
Sharma had opened fire at Lall on April 30, 1999, when she refused to serve him alcohol at a restaurant in south Delhi because the bar was closed. He is the son of former Congress Union Minister Venod Sharma. Manu Sharma is currently serving his sentence in an open jail in Tihar. Inmates in an open jail are allowed to go out and work during the day.
In April, Sabrina Lall, the victim’s sister, said she had no objection to Sharma’s release. “It will be like catharsis to forgive and move on,” Sabrina Lall had said.
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