Manu Sharma, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1999 Jessica Lal murder case, has received the approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi for his release after a recommendation of the Sentence Review Board for the same.
Advocate Amit Sahni, while speaking to on Tuesday, confirmed the development and said that Delhi Lieutenant Governor l Baijal has approved the name of Siddharth Vashishth also known as Manu Sharma for release from Tihar Jail.
He said that Sharma's name was approved in a sentence review board meeting held on May 11. Earlier, Delhi High Court had also asked the SRB to consider his name for release.
Vashishth, 45-years-old, is serving life term in connection with a case registered under Section 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of the offence, or giving false information to screen offender) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
According to his petition for release, the convict has undergone imprisonment for 16 years, 11 months and 24 days in actual, and 23 years 4 months and 22 days with remission. He has availed parole 12 times and furlough 24 times.
Sahni said that the Special Commissioner of Delhi Police (Crime) has not opposed the premature release of the convict in the meeting.
The Social Welfare Department, Delhi has recommended the premature release of the convict.
Manu's wife -- Preity Sharma -- through her lawyer had earlier approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) alleging gross violation of human rights claiming that her husband has been illegally detained for more than the prescribed period of incarceration (20 years with remission) as per the prevalent policy of the state.
( With inputs from ANI )