By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Wednesday reserved its verdict on lawyer R.K. Anand’s proposal to give free legal aid to poor litigants for one year as penance for his attempt to derail justice in the 1999 BMW hit-and-run incident here.
Anand earlier tendered an unconditional apology regretting his act and the court issued notice to him asking why his sentence should not be enhanced.
The lawyer, who was stripped of his senior counsel status by the Delhi High Court, in an affidavit told the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad that he would donate Rs.21 lakh to the Bar Council of India.
He said the council could use the money for any activity including setting up of a computer centre or a library in a law college.
Anand’s affidavit came in the wake of court offering him the option of either facing punishment or rendering free legal service to poor litigants.
The apex court also asked him to donate Rs.21 lakh to the bar council.
The court July 29, 2009, upheld the high court order holding him guilty of derailing the course of justice in the incident in which six people were killed by a speeding BMW car driven by former naval chief Admiral S.M. Nanda’s grandson.
Anand was convicted by the Delhi High Court for his alleged attempt to influence a controversial prosecution witness Sunil Kulkarni in the BMW case. The attempt was exposed in a news channel’s sting operation.
In the BMW hit-and-run case, six people, including three policemen, were killed Jan 10, 1999, by the speeding car being driven by Sanjeev Nanda – son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda and Admiral Nanda’s grandson.
Suresh Nanda, 34, who was convicted in the case, got a reprieve from the apex court in August which refused to enhance the quantum of punishment of two years already undergone by him and directed him to do community service for two years.
He was ordered by the court to pay a compensation of Rs.50 lakh to the central government which would be used for road accident victims.