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Gill puts up a brave face, tells wife not to worry
While Khanna was acquitted of all charges, Gill was pronounced guilty of destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy, reports Tushar Srivastava.
Only two of the accused in the Jessica Lall case -- Alok Khanna and Amardeep Singh Gill -- were present in the jam-packed court No 35 to hear the verdict on Monday.
While Khanna was acquitted of all charges, Gill was pronounced guilty of destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.
Flanked by his father and brother, as Gill, a general manager with a soft drinks company, walked out of the court, a police team stopped him. It told him about the court’s direction to immediately take him in custody and escorted him to the court lobby.
Gill tried to put up a brave face, but his father Shiv Dev Singh could not hold back his tears. While the police and his lawyers were completing legal formalities, Gill called up his wife on the phone. He spoke to his wife for 10 minutes and told her about the court’s verdict and that he would not be coming back home. Gill asked his wife not to worry and assured her that he would soon apply for bail.
He was then taken to Tihar jail, where he handed over his kada, belt and cash and other valuables to the officials.
Gill, according to the prosecution, was with prime accused Manu Sharma when Jessica was shot dead. Gill and Vikas Yadav, who was also convicted on Monday, had then come back to Qutub Colonade to take away Sharma’s Tata Safari.
He was charged with harbouring a criminal and destruction of evidence.
Email Tushar Srivastava: tushar@hindustantimes.com
