Collective amnesia strikes Delhi8217;s chatterati

NEW DELHI, May 5: Like a nasty hangover on the day after, the confusion over the events leading up to the murder of Jessica Lal refuses t...

NEW DELHI, May 5: Like a nasty hangover on the day after, the confusion over the events leading up to the murder of Jessica Lal refuses to go away. And it doesn8217;t seem like to happen soon, what with a sudden attack of collective amnesia having struck the city8217;s chatterati.

Everyone who8217;s someone claims to have left 8220;five or ten minutes8221; before the murder on that fateful night. And the few who seem to remember what happened are torn between their loyalty to the Ramanis and new-found moral qualms. What follows is a reconstruction of the chain of events based on eyewitness accounts and comments by friends of Jessica, juxtaposed against the truth according to Bina and Malini Ramani. But first a recap:

Minutes before the murder, Jessica Lal was at the door, reportedly leaving for a cup of coffee at Ashok with a fashion designer friend. But the friend claimed she wasn8217;t leaving with him at all; he names a Mumbai socialite8217;s husband as the man who was mistaken for him. He insists 8220;too many importantpeople are involved8221;. Then she remembered she hadn8217;t collected her wages for the evening from Malini. So she went back for Rs 1,000 and a bottle of vodka. The friend waited outside.

At that point, eight people were inside the restaurant Once Upon A Time two helpers, Arjun a close friend of Jessica8217;s who was standing six inches away from her, but is in shock and therefore cannot contribute to linking up events, three unidentified women, Malini who was settling Jessica8217;s dues and Chayan the co-bartender that night.

At this point, the man alleged to be Siddharth Vashisht, a.k.a. Manu Sharma, came up for a drink and even offered to pay extra for it. He was told the bar was closed, but he insisted on a drink, insisting that everyone else was drinking. Malini shot back: 8220;We won8217;t give you even a sip for a thousand bucks.8221; Saying this, she walked away. Seconds later, Jessica was shot dead.

Now, the two versions of the truth.

Truth according to the Ramanis: When Malini gave her firstversion to the police after delaying it for two days, she admitted she had talked to the alleged assailant, but could only identify him 8220;partially8221; because the picture shown to her was a 8220;profile8221; shot and he looked different in it.

Now she says she cannot identify him because it happened too quickly and she was busy taking Jessica to Aashlok Hospital.

Truth according to eyewitnesses: Malini did not take Jessica to the hospital. She was taken to Aashlok at least 15 minutes after the shooting in a chauffeur driven Opel Astra that belonged to a friend of the Ramanis, and was accompanied by Bina Ramani. Designer Rohit Bal followed in another car. Bina was at Aashlok with Jessica only for a short while, and reappeared only at 5.00 am at Apollo, where Jessica had been rushed when doctors at Aashlok gave up on her. Jessica8217;s friends claim they received frantic calls on their mobiles from her. They allege she said: 8220;Let8217;s get the story straight. It was a private party for Georges Mailhot, herhusband.8221;

Malini was with Bina when she came to Apollo, and her first reaction is reported to have been: 8220;Oh my God! A couple of seconds earlier and it could have been me.8221; Jessica8217;s friends say they overheard Bina telling others: 8220;This guy is politically connected. We don8217;t want to get involved, do we? We know what the consequences can be.8221;

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Enraged friends of Jessica8217;s also insist that the Ramanis didn8217;t have the courtesy to inform Jessica8217;s parents about the murder. May and Ajit Lal were taken to Aashlok by friends of Jessica8217;s.

Truth according to the Ramanis: Bina said she 8220;grappled8221; with the murderer while trying to stop him from leaving the premises.

Truth according to an eyewitness: 8220;Bina never physically came in the way of the alleged assailant. We were leaving the Tamarind Court and were at the entrance when a man wearing a white shirt pushed me out of the way. He looked like he was in a hurry, but certainly not as if he was running away after committing amurder. He was followed at some distance by Bina, who had with her 3 or 4 people. She was instructing them to catch that guy8217;. and telling passersby randomly to get his car number8217;.