Shayan, 30 others to face HC

I WITNESS: Munshi first filed the FIR in the Jessica case, but later changed his statement.

LIST OF THE 29 WITNESSES

Shayan Munshi Shivdas Karan Rajput Parikshit Sagar Andaleeb Sehgal Manoj Balbir Singh Srinarayan Parsen Lal Thapar Shanker Mukhia Harpal Singh Chandraprakash Chabra Abijit Ghoshal Varun Shah Mukesh Saini Chetan Nanda Ashok Dutt Baldev Singh Ishdeep Sharma Ali Mohammad Ranbeer Singh Gill Kulwinder Singh Niranjan Ram Mangal Singh Rakesh Kumar Atri Gajender Singh Jagannath Jha Dr Prem Sagar Manocha Babu Lal

J & K | Chhattisgarh | Delhi | MP |
Mizoram | Rajasthan

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New Delhi: The Jessica Lall murder case is back in news and after the accused, it’s the turncoats who are facing the heat from the court.

Thirty-one of the 101 witnesses in the case who retracted from their police statement during the murder trial will have to explain their conduct to the Delhi High Court on Thursday.

The list includes model-turned-actor Shayan Munshi and Andaleeb Sehgal, a businessman already facing probe for the oil-for-food controversy.

On December 21, 2006 – while convicting main accused Manu Sharma – the court had served notice to these witnesses asking them why legal proceedings for perjury should not be initiated against them, as under Section 340 (perjury) of the Criminal Procedure Code for interfering with the administration of justice.

While passing the direction, the bench observed that these witnesses had "vitiated the administration of justice by not supporting the case".

The court clearly stated that Munshi was under Manu Sharma’s influence.

Interestingly, Delhi Police counsel Mukta Gupta said that during the trial Manu's family had tried to influence

the witnesses and "ultimately attempted to interfere in the administration of justice system".

Within hours after the model – who was serving as a bartender at Tamarind Court – was shot, it was Munshi who filed the FIR.

At that time, the actor clearly stated that he saw Manu fire two bullets, one in the air and the other at Jessica that hit her in the eye.

However, few months later, the struggling actor changed his version and said he did not understand Hindi and could not decipher the police statement he had signed on in a state of frenzy.

He also said that though it was Manu who fired at the ceiling, some other man – whom he could not identify – shot Jessica.

Under Section 340 of CrPC, hostile witnesses can be tried and prosecuted for perjury. Zahira Sheikh of the Best Bakery case was tried under the section.

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