Jessica Lal murder convict Manu Sharma has walked out of Tihar jail after Delhi’s lieutenant-governor approved his premature release, sources in the prison said.

“Manu Sharma was released from Tihar on Monday (June 1) after a recommendation by the Sentence Review Board was approved by Delhi LG Anil Baijal,” said an official.

Last month the Sentence Review Board (SRB), which comes under the Delhi government, had recommended Manu’s premature release.

Manu’s jail term was to come to an end in 2023.

Manu Sharma, son of former Union minister Venod Sharma of Haryana, was in 2006 sentenced to life in prison by Delhi High Court for murdering Jessica at Tamarind Court restaurant. He had shot dead the 23-year-old model on April 29-30 night in 1999 at a party in the Delhi restaurant when she refused to serve him after-hour drinks.

In 2010 the Supreme Court had upheld his life term.

“Manu spent 16 years and 11 months in jail and his release was cleared because of his good conduct in prison,” said the prison official.

A Delhi trial court had acquitted him but the high court reversed the order. The high court had convicted him on the basis of eyewitness accounts, including those of socialite Bina Ramani and her daughter Malini, owners of Tamarind.

Sabrina Lal, who fought a long legal battle to bring her sister Jessica’s killer to book, plans to start a foundation in her memory to help women in similar situations get justice.

Sabrina said she had forgiven Manu.

“I really do not have anything to say. I am not feeling anything. I feel numb. The only thing I hope and pray to God is that he never thinks of repeating that mistake again,” Sabrina told news agency PTI on Tuesday.

She had in 2018 written to the jail authorities that she had no objection to Manu’s release. “I wrote that I had no objection to his release. It was a long and arduous fight.… It was very difficult. It is not easy to go back to a normal life,” Sabrina said.

“After he (Manu) was convicted, one started feeling better about oneself and there was a load lifted that at least justice had been served. It takes years… it does not happen quickly,” she said.

But has she forgiven him? “You have to forgive. If you hold on to hate and revenge, you cannot move on. Forgiveness is something you have to feel. You can never forget, but you need to forgive at some point,” Sabrina said.

CPM leader Brinda Karat said there was absolutely no ground for giving Manu a lenient release and that it was surprising that a board headed by a Delhi minister should come forth with such a recommendation.

“On what basis did the Delhi Sentence Review Board take a decision to recommend a criminal, who is convicted of the murder of a young woman, to be released three years earlier? It sets a very wrong precedent,” Brinda said.