Manu’s uncle in Manali knows where weapon is — Police

Metropolitan Magistrate V K Khanna remanded Manu till May 17 even though the public prosecutor had pressed for seven days’ of police custody.

The Mehrauli police brought Manu to the court two hours late. On May 7, MM Khanna had directed the police to produce Manu before or at 2 pm.

Defence counsel criticised the police and said that the police have “factually committed contempt of court,” and asked for immediate action. The prosecution said that the delay was due to the medical examination of Manu, which was conducted at the AIIMS.

Defence counsel accused the police of forcibly getting a disclosure statement from Manu. “They have got the custody of my client since the past five days. They could notrecover the weapon in this time period and now they again want the custody,” he said.

The prosecutor said that new facts had emerged as a result of the investigation. He apprised the court about a conversation which the police recorded this morning. The conversation is between Titu alias Ravinder Sudan in the US, who is said to have hidden the pistol and one Ashok Dutt. The conversation purportedly gives details about the person who knows about the weapon of offence. “According to Titu, the weapon is with Manu’s uncle, Shyam Sunder Sharma, who is staying in Manali,” the prosecutor submitted, adding it is necessary to take Manu there. The Sharmas own the Piccadily Hotel in Manali.

Earlier, the Delhi police team that had gone to Chandigarh with Manu Sharma returned virtually empty-handed. A four-member police team, led by Surinder Kumar, SHO of Mehrauli, had left for Chandigarh and other adjacent places on May 9. The team was to verify all the places that Manu visited between April 30 and May 6, beforehe surrendered to the police. They were also supposed to question all those who had given Manu shelter during that period and ascertain their role in harbouring the accused.

However, apart from Harvinder Chopra, a chartered accountant with Vinod Sharma’s Piccadily group, they have been unable to find anyone.

Says Sudhir Yadav, DCP (south): “We have been unable to recover the weapon, but we will be talking to Chopra, who is expected to come here tomorrow.”

Chopra had arranged shelter for Manu on the night of April 30.

Tracing the .22 pistol with which Manu allegedly shot Jessica is extremely important for the police, as the weapon is the most crucial piece of evidence. However, the police believe that Manu’s uncle, Shyam Sunder Sharma, knows where the weapon has been hidden and will also be questioning him.

Yadav said that they had asked for an extension of the police remand as several new things had come to light during the last three days.

Meanwhile, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office(FRRO) has served a show cause notice to Bina Ramani’s husband George Mailhot as he had apparently told the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that his wife was an Indian national. While Bina is registered as a British national, her husband is a Canadian national and her daughter a US national. The RBI is also trying to ascertain how she was given permission to do business in India.

The FRRO wants to question him for allegedly furnishing false information to the RBI. However, according to sources, Mailhot has apparently informed the FRRO that he is not well and will not be able to appear for at least a week.