New Delhi: "This was in my fate," was the immediate reaction of Manu Sharma, who was sentenced to life for murdering model Jessica Lall by the Delhi High Court today. "Mere bhagya main yehi tha. Taqdeer ka faisla yehi tha (This was in my fate. This was decided by destiny," Sharma said to his close friend after the sentence was delivered. All the three convicts, Manu Sharma, Vikas Yadav and Amardeep Singh Gill alias Tony, remained calm and controlled their emotions during the hour-long arguments. Immediately after the sentence was pronounced, the three were escorted out of the courtroom by police personnel who had accompanied them from Tihar Jail. Relatives and friends of the trio surrounded them while they were made to sit outside the courtroom as their lawyers busied themselves with formalities. Manu's father Venod Sharma, a senior Congress leader, kept away from the court proceedings. Sharma, who had attended the entire hearing on the appeal, was also not present in the court on Monday when his son was held guilty for murdering the model at the south Delhi restaurant on April 29-30, 1999. However, controversial Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, father of Vikas Yadav, sentenced to four years imprisonment, was present in the court.
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