The tall, haggard man Amit Jhingan is a friend of Manu Sharma, accused of shooting model Jessica Lal with a .22 pistol at Bina Ramani's Qutab Colonnade on April 30. The Delhi police arrested Amit late on Friday night from his Vasant Kunj residence and booked him under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

"He helped Manu Sharma recover his pistol, which he had hidden in a village in Mehrauli when he was running away from Qutab Colonnade that night," says Joint Commissioner of Police (southern) range Amod Kanth.

Manu reportedly named Amit an accomplice. Manu knew Amit - who is a fabricator - from his Chandigarh days. The police had questioned Amit earlier too, but he never disclosed his connection with Manu's escape. "Manutold us that after he ran out of Qutab Colonnade, he hid in a village a kilometre away for some time. There, near a cottage industries sales shop, he buried his pistol under a heap of sand," says Kanth.

Manu then hitchhiked his way to his friend Coke general manager Amardeep Singh Gill alias Tony's house in Friends Colony and called up Amit. The latter drove down from Vasant Kunj in a white Maruti Gypsy, picked up Manu and MP D P Yadav's son Vikas and went back to the Mehrauli area. "Manu took them to the spot and gave directions. While he and Vikas sat inside, Amit walked up to the heap of sand, fished out the pistol and gave it to Manu," adds Kanth.

The trio then sped away, dropped Amit off at his residence and joined Tony and another friend Alok Khanna, also a general manager with Coke, in Tony's house. The pistol changed hands once again. Manu summoned another acquaintance Titu to D P Yadav's official residence, where he and Vikas Yadav had holed up after leaving Tony's house. There he handed overthe pistol to Titu, who the police suspect has left for the US. Amit has been remanded to custody till May 21.