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Nanda gets 5-yr RI
Sandeep Yadav
Tribune News Service
Sanjeev Nanda being taken away by police. — A Tribune photograph |
New Delhi, September 5
Sanjeev Nanda (34), grandson of former naval chief Admiral S.M. Nanda and son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda, was today sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment (RI) by the Patiala House Court for mowing down six persons, including three policemen, with his BMW car during the wee hours of January 10, 1999, while he was returning from a party in Gurgaon. Nanda’s nine months in jail earlier will be counted as time served. The nine-year trial had come to an end on September 2 when the Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar in a landmark judgment held Sanjeev Nanda guilty under section 304 (2) of the IPC for Culpable Homicide not amounting to murder. The maximum punishment for the crime is 10 years. Rajeev Gupta, father of Sanjeev’s friend Siddharth, and his two servants Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh, who were also found guilty of destroying the evidence (201/IPC) after the accident, were also sentenced today. While Rajeev Gupta was sentenced to one-year RI and slapped with a fine of Rs 10, 000, the two servants were sentenced for six months and fined Rs 100 each. However, all three were granted bail soon after the ruling on a surety of Rs 10, 000 each.
‘Sentence too harsh’
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 5
Sanjeev Nanda’s family members termed the sentence harsh and beyond their expectations. Sanjeev’s grandmother Sumitra Nanda, father Suresh Nanda and sister Sonali Nanda were in tears as Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar said, “ Sanjeev Nanda, I award you five years’ jail term and……..”. "It's too harsh a punishment after he has already spent nine months in prison. Besides, we have paid a lot of compensation to their (victims) families," was all that weeping Sumitra Nanda could say even as her family huddled around her. Sanjeev appeared calm as he heard the punishment. He was seen in conversation with his father after the judge had finished, betraying no emotion at all. He was soon taken by the Delhi Police personnel’s to the waiting van for his way to Tihar Jail.
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