By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday deferred the hearing till July 2 into a sting operation telecast by NDTV news channel exposing an alleged nexus between the prosecution and defence in the 1999 BMW hit-and-run case, stating that a bench headed by the chief justice would hear the matter.
A division bench of Justice J.P. Singh and S. Murlidhar said the matter would be heard after the vacations by the bench, which had directed the registrar general of the court to probe the matter and file a report.
The registrar general of the high court submitted a report along with an original CD of the sting operation carried by NDTV May 30. A transcript of the conversation was also placed before the bench.
Taking the suo motu cognisance on May 31, the court had directed the registrar general to collect the evidence and place it before a bench on June 11.
It had said that "The contents of the video recently done by NDTV is a serious issue concerning the administration of the criminal justice system. In the fitness of things and the interest of justice, facts should be brought out."
The sting had shown public prosecutor I.U. Khan apparently directing witness Sunil Kulkarni to contact senior advocate R.K. Anand, who was representing prime accused Sanjiv Nanda.
Anand's assistant allegedly struck a deal with Kulkarni to turn hostile for a payment of Rs.20 million, the TV channel claimed.
In 1999, Nanda driving his BMW car allegedly ran over six people in New Delhi. Even though there was blood found on the wheels of his car, Nanda's lawyers claimed it was an accident and got him out on bail after nine months in jail after Kulkarni, the only remaining witness, changed his story and said a truck and not a BMW caused the accident.
Kulkarni was, however, inexplicably dropped by the prosecution as a witness on grounds he was bought off by the Nandas.