Under mounting public pressure, Delhi police decided on Tuesday to challenge the verdict in the Jessica Lall murder case in High Court. It was made clear that officials who did not 'function in an appropriate manner' would be produced before it.

"Very shortly we will be filing an appeal," Delhi Police Commissioner Krishna Kant Paul told reorters following widespread criticism of the police handling of the case. A sessions court acquitted all the nine accused, including Manu Sharma, the son of a Haryana politician.

He said, "Whosoever is responsible, we will see that they are brought before the court."

Paul referred to the letter he, as Joint Commissioner (Crime), had wrtitten in 2001 to the then Commisisoner of Police Ajai Raj Sharma suggesting an internal probe against officials investigating the case.

He said the police had taken a decsion not to take action on his 2001 report as it could 'vitiate the trial', which had already begun.

Also read: Top cop on the Jessica Lal case