By IANS,
New Delhi : Five years for six deaths -that was the sentence meted out by a Delhi court Friday to Sanjeev Nanda for crushing to death six people under his BMW in the dark hours of Jan 10, 1999.
Nanda, who nine years ago had run over six people in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony while returning drunk from a party in Gurgaon, was taken into custody soon after the sentence was pronounced. Dressed in a beige kurta, the grandson of former navy chief S.M. Nanda and son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda was surrounded by policemen.
Businessman Rajiv Gupta, found guilty of destroying evidence, was given one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,000. His two domestic helps Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh, also held guilty for destroying evidence, were sentenced for six months and fined Rs.100 each. All three were given bail soon after the ruling on a surety of Rs.10,000 each.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar had in a landmark judgment Tuesday found Nanda guilty under Section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The maximum punishment for the crime is 10 years. Nanda’s nine months in jail will be counted as time served.
This is one of the first instances that a court has convicted the accused in a hit and run case under Section 304 (2). In most cases, the conviction is under Section 304 (1) – causing death by rash and negligent act – in which the maximum sentence is two years.
In its ruling, the court had said the rich and influential had hijacked the entire criminal justice and trial system.
Public prosecutor Rajeev Mohan, concluded arguments Wednesday, demanded the maximum punishment for Nanda, a British national, saying the verdict should give a message to society.
“Deterrent punishment is the need of the hour, so that the right message is sent across the society to all potential offenders,” Mohan said.
He also added that the expensive BMW car was an imported one and was not even registered in India.
Countering the prosecution’s demand of the maximum punishment, defence lawyer Ramesh Gupta pleaded for reasonable punishment.
“Justice is at stake… ultimately judges have to decide whether it’s a media trial or a court trial. Media shouldn’t exceed its limits… then judges won’t be able to decide independently on the issues,” he said, referring to the media coverage of the high-profile case.
He said his clients had already paid Rs.6.5 million as compensation to the next of kin of the dead and the injured.
The court Tuesday acquitted Nanda’s friend Manik Kapoor who was sitting in the passenger seat next to the driver’s at the time of the accident citing lack of evidence.