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Three reports were received about a shooting at an illegal bar in south Delhi in which ramp model Jessica Lal was killed, a Delhi court was informed on Friday.
"I received three messages, one after the other, at about 0220 hours (IST) on April 30, 1999 about the shooting," Head Constable K S Santosh, a wireless operator with the Delhi police, told additional sessions judge R L Chugh.
"The three messages were: 'A person has been shot near Qutub Minar', 'In Qutub Colonnade, a person has been shot' and 'Near Qutub Minar, a girl has been shot'," Santosh said.
The messages, Santosh said, were originally received by Assistant Sub-inspector Bir Singh from mobile phone no 98110-20955.
On Thursday, Bir Singh had told the court that the police control room had received two telephone calls about the shooting.
Lal is alleged to have been shot by Manu Sharma, son of a former Union minister, after she refused to serve him a drink at Tamarind Court, an illegal bar run by socialite Bina Ramani in the Qutub Colonnade commercial complex.
Lal was working as a celebrity barmaid.
During cross-examination by Sharma's counsel, R K Naseem, Santosh said that he 'correctly recorded the messages but due to hurry, I did not mention the name of Jessica Lal'.
Lal's name, he said, "is shown in this entry by an arrow mark."
Assistant Sub-inspector Kartar Singh said that Santosh had shown him a log book in which he had recorded the three messages.
"A person who appeared to be a foreigner, who had somewhat long hair came to the (Mehrauli) police station. He wanted to convey a message about the firing incident. We told him that we had already received the message and were taking action," Singh said.
During cross-examination, he denied that the daily diaries had not been properly maintained and were manipulated.
Cross-examined by counsel for Vikas Singh, another accused in the case, Kartar Singh said there was no record in the Mehrauli police station of a Tata Safari vehicle being removed from the scene of the crime.
The prosecution contends that Sharma and some others had fled the scene of crime in a Tata Safari.
There are nine accused in the case. All of them, barring Manu Sharma, are out on bail.
Four of the eight prosecution witnesses in the case have turned hostile, denying that they were present at the bar on the night of the shooting.
Key prosecution witness Malini Ramani, however, told the court that Sharma had indeed asked for two drinks from Lal, who refused to serve them as the bar was closed. Malini is Bina Ramani's daughter.
Two prosecution witnesses have told the court that they had issued an arms licence to and had sold ammunition to Sharma.
Naveen Chopra, who owns an arms shop at Karnal, 90 km from Delhi, said he sold 25 rounds of .22 bore ammunition to Sharma on February 4, 1999.
Gurnam Singh, who works in the arms licensing department of the Chandigarh administration, testified that arms licence number 191 had been issued to Sharma.
"After the preparation of the licence, it was given to Siddharth Vasisht (as Manu Sharma is also known). The licence bears the photograph of Siddharth Vasisht," Singh said.
There are over 100 prosecution witnesses in the case.
Indo-Asian News Service
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