Venod Sharma

Venod Sharma is a leader of Indian National Congress party from
Haryana. He was a Minister of State in the Ministry ofCivil Supplies, Consumer Affairs andPublic Distribution at in the Narasimha Rao cabinet (inducted 1995 [http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lsdeb/ls10/ses15/p2711_1.htm] ). A noted Gandhi loyalist, he rose in political circles to become one of the most powerful men in state of Haryana [ http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/24/stories/2006052413280500.htm] .

Note that the name Venod is commonly spelled "Vinod", but "Venod" is the acceptedspelling.

Manu Sharma and the Jessica Lal Murder

Venod Sharma is also the father of Manu Sharma, who has been convicted of murdering Jessica Lalin the presence of several witnesses. Initially, a trial court in Delhi had thrown out the casesince many of the witnesses, who had initially claimed to havingseen him firing the gun, retracted their statements. Following a huge media uproar,the case was taken up by the Delhi High Court and Manu was found guilty. The case is currently sub judice in the Supreme Court.

After the murder, Venod Sharma was denied a Member of Parliament candidacy from the Congress Party for the Lok Sabha i.e., for the central government. However, he managed a ticket for the legislative assembly (at the State level) and won as MLA. Subsequently he had become the minister for Power in the state of Haryana.

However, events during Manu Sharma's trial for murder appears to haveundermined Venod Sharma's clout. During the initial trial all the eye-witnessesturned hostile, and retracted their earlier statements. They were believed to have been pressurized and paid off, largely based on Venod Sharma's political clout. This led toincreasing pressure in the public and in the media cite news
publisher = Hindu
title = Justice to Jessica, voices all
url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2006/03/11/stories/2006031103190400.htm
accessdate=2006-10-07] . There was widespread criticism of the Delhi Police for going after others like the restaurateur Bina Ramani and allowing the main accused, Manu Sharma, to go scot-free.

The news portal Tehelka carried out a sting operation following Manu Sharma's release. This uncovered details of the witness coercion process, and alleged thatmoney was being paid directly from Venod Sharmas offices to some of the witnesses. cite news
publisher = Star News/Tehelka
url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp?filename=Ne093006JESSICA.asp
title=English Translation of the transcript of the news expose “Case Ke Kaatil”, produced by Tehelka, and aired on Star News
date=2006-09-26
accessdate=2006-10-07] . Venod Sharma was directly mentioned by several people, such as thisperson who was a friend of the (now expired) eye-witness Karan Rajput:

: Surendra: I saw him receiving money at Okhla.: Question: Where at Okhla?: Surendra: From Sharma’s place. In front of Okhla depot there is a building. [Venod] Sharma owns entire building. We used to collect money from there itself.: Question: How much money?: Surendra: Whatever we needed.: Question: Whatever you say?: Surendra: Whatever we demand. We used to get 20-25 thousand every month just like that. His number is in mamu’s ( Karan Rajput) diary.

After his name was directly linked with the cover-up, parties such as the India Lok Dal clamoured for Venod Sharma's resignation, and the public outcry was at an inopportune time, given forthcoming elections in the neighbouring Punjab and otherstates.

Finally, Venod Sharma submitted his resignation letter to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi on Friday 10 October 2006.

References