The Supreme Court on Friday commenced the hearing on the bail petition of Manu Sharma, who has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Jessica Lal [Images] murder case.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani opened the argument before the Bench headed by Justice C K Thakker contending that Sharma was eligible for grant of bail as there was considerable delay in hearing his appeal filed against his conviction.

The senior advocate said that the court only has to consider whether on grant of bail the accused will abscond, which, he said, was not likely as during the trial of the case there was no instance when Manu violated the bail condition.

The prosecution opposed the bail plea, but Jethmalani said the possibility of Manu getting acquitted in the case cannot be ruled out as the trial court had absolved him of the crime but the decision was reversed by the Delhi high court.

Jethmalani contended that the high court verdict was perverse and in his view the "judgment of conviction is not entitled to be qualified as judgment."

He alleged that the case was foisted on Sharma and evidence was fabricated. This was proved by the fact that the forensic report confirmed that bullets were fired from two weapons, he claimed.

Model Lal was shot dead allegedly by Sharma, son of former Haryana minister Venod Sharma, at a south Delhi restaurant owned by socialite Bina Ramani on the intervening night of April 29-30, 1999.

The next date of hearing is April 16.