By IANS,
New Delhi : Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar Friday refused to take action against hostile witnesses, including Sunil Kulkarni who had changed his testimony a few times, while handing out the sentences in the BMW hit-and-run case.
On Sunil Kulkarni, a key witness in the case, the judge noted: “His testimony has been held to be truthful before this court. However, it is true he had filed false affidavits before the high court at various stages, but this court cannot punish him for perjury which he has committed in other courts.”
On witness Manoj Malik, he said: “The hostile witness (Manoj Malik) is himself a victim of the offence and perhaps he could not withstand the pressures of influential persons. Therefore, I do not intend to initiate any proceedings against any of the witnesses.”
The court on Tuesday found Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former navy chief S.M. Nanda and son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda, guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The court noted that this case was graver than that of Mumbai’s Alister Anthony Pareira, who had run over seven people.
Nanda, 30, who nine years ago ran over six people in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony while returning drunk from a party in Gurgaon, was taken to Tihar Jail soon after the sentence was pronounced Friday.
Businessman Rajiv Gupta, found guilty of destroying evidence, was given one year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,000.
His two domestic helps Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh, also held guilty of destroying evidence, were sentenced to six months in jail and fined Rs.100 each. All three were given bail soon after on a surety of Rs.10,000 each.
The court Tuesday acquitted Nanda’s friend Manik Kapoor who was sitting next to Nanda at the time of the accident, citing lack of evidence.