Murder took place in crowded bar, but cops struggle for eyewitnesses

The Delhi Police may have got the prime accused in their custody, but what they have against him is pretty flimsy at this point of time. 8220;We have collected statements from a lot of people, but how many of them will actually be helpful, remains to be seen,8221; confessed a senior police official.

Statements given by witnesses constitute oral evidence. However, that alone cannot be relied on, as witnesses, more often than not, turn hostile. A case in point is the Personal Point murder case. Two years down the line, most of the witnesses have turned hostile and the prime witness is missing.

Now consider the facts of this case. Prime accused Manu Sharma, who surrendered early on Thursday, has said that he is innocent and that is why he was giving himself up.

The police have failed to recover the murder weapon 8212; the .22 bore pistol that was used to kill Jessica 8212; so far.

Refusing to comment on the evidence that they have, Joint Commissioner Amod Kanth says: 8220;We have completed only 25-30 per cent of the investigations so far. However, we can say that prima facie we have enough evidence to arrest Manu Sharma.8221;

The ground reality is that most of the guests have already denied having seen the accused shoot Jessica. Malani Ramani, daughter of socialite and Colonnade owner Bina Ramani, whose comments allegedly led to the fracas, has also claimed that she was outside the restaurant when the incident actually happened. Bina Ramani, who claims to have made an effort to stop the accused and his friends, also maintains that she did not see anyone firing the fatal shot.

There are a few waiters of the hotel who saw the accused shoot Jessica, but even police officials admit that they may backtrack.

The police might have established the sequence of events after interrogating and arresting two of Manu8217;s friends 8212; Tony Singh and Alok Khanna 8212; but that may also not hold ground as their lawyers were seen instructing them to say that they were forced to make those statements.

So at the end of the day, all that the police have is the testimony of 21-year-old student/model Shayan Munshi. And will that lone testimony be enough to build an airtight case against the accused, which could lead to a conviction?