Exception thrown when running karaf for the very first time

Here is the exception that happens,

MORAJA-M-301N:assembly moizr$ ./bin/karaf
Error installing bundle listed in startup.properties with url: wrap:mvn:javax.servlet.jsp/jsp-api/2.1 and startlevel: 30
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.karaf.main.Main.destroy(Main.java:525)
at org.apache.karaf.main.Main.main(Main.java:173)

To reproduce the problem,

1. In the controller repo switch to the stable/lithium branch and build the controller using mvn clean install
2. cd ./karaf/opendaylight-karaf/target/assembly
3. ./bin/karaf

The next time you try to launch karaf it will work. To reproduce again at this point do the following,

1. stop/kill karaf
2. delete the data directory
3. ./bin/karaf