The 1998 Dalal suicide case is now a mere formality. Nearly seven years ago, Vasudev Dalal and wife Tara committed suicide by jumping off the balcony of their eighth-floor Kemps Corner flat. In his suicide note, Vasudev blamed his son Balkrishna and daughter-in-law Sonal.On Monday morning, Balkrishna, wife Sonal and daughter Pooja also jumped off the eighth-floor of Grand Paradi Apartments, leaving a suicide note saying they ‘‘were fed up with life’’.The Sessions Court is likely to deliver a verdict on the 1998 case on April 12. But the six-month-old case papers are likely to gather dust now. As a lawyer brusquely put it, ‘‘Now, what’s the use, the whole Dalal family has been wiped out’’.For Dr Vikram Maniar, however, April 12 is an important date. Sonal’s brother, the closest relation to the Dalals, said he wants some justice. ‘‘Now that she has gone, at least let her go in dignity,’’ said the frail retired doctor. ‘‘I hope the court acquits them, they never harassed the parents.’’Maniar, who was the last to see the Dalals alive, said at their customary Sunday night dinner together, the family seemed relaxed. ‘‘But perhaps, they had already decided. They were very close, just the three of them,’’ added the bachelor. ‘‘Fear of jail,’’ he mumbled.It’s perhaps the only thing that the police and Maniar agree on: Fear of a conviction drove the family to suicide.Maniar said he wishes he could turn back the clock. ‘‘I would have just called Memon. He had told them there was nothing to worry, they would have been acquited now or on appeal later.’’ Majeed Memon, the Dalals’ advocate, refers to SC judgments that convictions in ‘‘abetment cases never come only on the basis of a suicide note’’.
