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Timeline
Jan 10, 1999: Six persons killed by speeding BMW car. Jan 11: Police seek their custodial interrogation. April 7: Police file chargesheet against accused under sections 304, 308, 201 and 34 of the IPC. Aug 3: Court frames charges. Aug 18: Court starts recording of testimonies of witnesses. Sep 30: Prosecution drops Mumbai-based Sunil Kulkarni as an eye-witness. December 2003: Recording of prosecution witnesses’ testimony concludes. Jan, 2, 2004: Nanda starts recording statements. May 14, 2007: Kulkarni records statement as witness, identifies Nanda as one of the occupants of the car. May 30: A news channel airs a sting operation showing collusion between Nanda’s counsel and prosecutor I U Khan. May 31: Khan asked to withdraw as prosecutor. |
New Delhi, September 2
A city court today held Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former Admiral S.M. Nanda, guilty for mowing down six persons in the BMW hit-and-run case that took place in the wee hours of January 10, 1999, on the Lodhi road in the capital.
Acquitting co-accused Manik Kapoor, the Patiala House Court also held Rajeev Gupta, father of Siddharth Gupta, a friend of Sanjeev, and his two servants, Bhola Nath and Shyam Sunder, guilty for distortion of evidence. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced tomorrow.
Two Delhi police constables, Ram Raj and Peru Lal, a CRPF constable Rajan Kumar, and three others, Mehdi Hasan, Nazir and Ghulam, were killed after being hit by the speeding BMW car being driven by Sanjeev Nanda on the fateful night.
Sporting a vermilion tilak, Sanjeev came to the courtroom around 12 noon along with his grandmother Gyatri Nanda, father Suresh Nanda and sister Sonali to attend the proceedings.
The family members were left shocked as the court pronounced him guilty while tears welled up in the eyes of his sister and grandmother.
Manik Kapoor, Sanjeev’s friend who has been acquitted in the case
due to lack of evidence, cried inconsolably repeatedly saying that his friend was innocent. Sanjeev, who was out on bail in the case till today after spending nine months in the prison earlier was immediately taken into custody by the police for being taken to Tihar jail van. As Sanjeev took up the procedural formalities that follow a conviction, his father Suresh Nanda, an arms dealer, told media that they would look into the judgment before saying anything.
Sanjeev Nanda has been held guilty under section 304 (2) of the IPC where an accused commits an act with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death but without any intention to cause death. The provision prescribes a maximum prison term of 10 years and a minimum of two or fine or both.
Imputing motives on Nanda, the prosecution had claimed that the accused, after hitting the victims, had stopped the vehicle, descended from it to assess the damage and driven away despite knowing that some the victims were entangled under the car and were crying for help.
The car was then driven to one Siddharth Gupta’s house, where Siddharth’s father, Rajeev Gupta, instructed watchman Bhola Nath and driver Shayam Sunder to clean the bumpers and bonnet of the car off blood and vestiges of the victims. Subsequently, the police charged these people with destroying the evidence.
While public prosecutor Rajeev Mohan has expressed satisfaction over the outcome of the case which hinged on the circumstantial evidence, defence counsel was visibly perturbed at the verdict and even passed a sarcastic comment.
Nanda’s counsel Ramesh Gupta said that now, you (intending towards media personnel) might be feeling elated as the acquittal of Nanda would have meant travesty of justice.
