On 29 April 1999, Lal was one of several models working at an unlicensed bar at a party in a restaurant overlooking the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli. By midnight the bar had run out of liquor and it would, in any event, have ceased sales at 12.30 am. After midnight, Manu Sharma walked in with three friends and demanded to be served liquor, offering 1000 for it. Lal refused and Sharma then fired a .22 calibre pistol at the ceiling as an intimatory act. Lal refused again, Sharma fired again and the second bullet hit Lal in the head, killing her.