Sanjeev Nanda gets five-year jail term in BMW case

[suraj]

Capping a nine-year trial, a Delhi court Friday awarded five years rigorous imprisonment to businessman Sanjeev Nanda for crushing to death six people under his BMW in the dark hours of January 10, 1999. Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, who had on Tuesday found the grandson of former navy chief SM Nanda and son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda guilty under Section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, said this case was graver than that of Mumbai's Alister Anthony Pareira who had run over seven people. “If the present (BMW) case is compared with Pareira's case, it would be found that this case is much more grave than the later case as in this Sanjeev Nanda was found with presence of ethyl alcohol to the extent of 0.115 per cent in his blood whereas Pareira was found to contain 0.112 per cent of ethyl alcohol, which was on lower end of harsher sentence,†the judge noted in his eight-page sentence order. A year ago, on September 6, 2007, the Bombay High Court had sentenced Pareira to three years in prison and a fine of Rs 500,000 for running over and killing seven people sleeping on the footpath. "In Pareira's case people were sleeping on the footpath, whereas in the BMW case people were standing on the road which meant the convict was in a position to clearly see them on the road. Pareira's car stopped at the spot, whereas Nanda checked the car under which the injured were entangled and were crying and thereafter again drove away the car, so this case require the sentence on the higher end," the judge said. Refuting the defence allegation that Nanda's age should be kept in mind while giving the punishment, the judge said: "Sanjeev Nanda was already exposed to a Western culture where drunken driving is taboo and if someone indulges in it the consequences are very harsh." "A person who had got driving licence from USA can be considered to be having a higher degree of knowledge of consequences of drunken driving. Therefore, on account of his young age, no benefit can be given to him." The 30-year-old, 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 to Tihar Jail soon after the sentence was pronounced. Dressed in a beige kurta, Nanda was surrounded by policemen. "The grant of handsome compensation to the families of the victims after a very short duration from the offence, however, leans heavily in favour of Nanda. I feel that though the victims have been compensated but the primarily accountability of Nanda is towards the society," said the judge. "The question is whether a man on the road is safe and whether the drunken drivers would keep on committing such offences. This accountability to the society can only be suitably answered if a substantial jail term is provided to him, though it would not be appropriate to award him a lighter sentence," the judge further added. 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 of 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. Pareira had also been convicted under Section 304 (2) in which the maximum sentence is 10 years. 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. Nanda's nine months in jail will be counted as time served. In its ruling, the court had said the rich and influential had hijacked the entire criminal justice and trial system. Public prosecutor Rajeev Mohan expressed satisfaction over the sentence: “This was an exceptional case where nobody from the victims' families was interested in helping the prosecution. In all other high-profile cases, victims stood by the whole case.†“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. Nanda's counsel Prem Kumar said: “This is a harsher punishment and we will appeal in the high court against it after going through the copy of the judgement.†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 client had already paid Rs 6.5 million as compensation to the next of kin of the dead and the injured. The court on Tuesday acquitted Nanda's friend Manik Kapoor who was sitting next to Nanda at the time of the accident citing lack of evidence.

[Guest dada_rocks]

R K Aanand the congresi leader and Nanda's attorney too should be thrown behind bars if judiciary wants to be taken seriously...........This guy was caught on camera bribing the witness and all that he gets his four month's ban from practiing law. ..give me a break

[DomainK]

I have no sympathy for this guy. He gets drunk, decides to drives, drives at a very fast speed knowing fully well that can not control the car, runs people over, runs away, tries to destroy evidence, and then again goes back to his partying culture. Deserves the punishment.

[suraj]

Piddly 5years for killing 6 people that too after 9 yrs of haggling .... they (Judiciary) arent shy of the kind of message that is being sent across ehh ? This is a mockery of everything that is holy ... :mad:

well said and the defence is angry because they feel that since money was given to victims he should not be punished I tell you what its an extreme step but the fathers of such spoilt kids should also be sent to jail because they pride themselves on being able to provide the kids with all the riches and being able to protect them when they do something wrong.

[DomainK]

well said and the defence is angry because they feel that since money was given to victims he should not be punished I tell you what its an extreme step but the fathers of such spoilt kids should also be sent to jail because they pride themselves on being able to provide the kids with all the riches and being able to protect them when they do something wrong.

And I am sure that the father also played a significant role in destroying evidence and then in the bribing act. Hard to prove that though. And yes, it should be considered as attempted murder. Because when you are drunk and you are driving at a very speed knowing that you are drunk, you are willfully putting other peoples lives at risk. Thats as good as attempted murder. Or may be worse, because in most attempted murder cases the accused happens to have a reason for his act.

[Rajiv]

Point is, you have to pay for your mistake There was another guy in Mumbai ( actually several cases ) - Salman being one of them; they got away with this

[suraj]

Point is, you have to pay for your mistake There was another guy in Mumbai ( actually several cases ) - Salman being one of them; they got away with this

Yup Salman Khan should be in jail instead of taking off his shirt and having girls swooning over him Shame on him and shame on all the fans & the Katrinas of the world who hero worship him

[varun]

He was my schoolmate, and one of the guys who was in the car with him was a good buddy of mine. Nanda was an arrogant bugger, though the others got roped in unnecessarily. Anyway, I don't expect any severe punishment for these spoilt brats, especially in India ! PS: What's the penalty in the US for manslaughter due to reckless driving by a juvenile ?

[Willow_on_fire]

He was my schoolmate, and one of the guys who was in the car with him was a good buddy of mine. Nanda was an arrogant bugger, though the others got roped in unnecessarily. Anyway, I don't expect any severe punishment for these spoilt brats, especially in India ! PS: What's the penalty in the US for manslaughter due to reckless driving by a juvenile ?

true...I just guessed 5 year term after they said that the max was 10 years in jail...and it just turned out to be.:sad_smile:

[THX_1138]

R K Aanand the congresi leader and Nanda's attorney too should be thrown behind bars if judiciary wants to be taken seriously...........This guy was caught on camera bribing the witness and all that he gets his four month's ban from practiing law. ..give me a break

that is the law... attempting to tamper with witness or to coach a witness or in other ways attempting to obstruct the testimony of a witness by persuasion or misdirection by a lawyer is not considered a crime grievous enough to be punished with jail time, and usually results in a temporary or permanent disbarment. simply because it fits your fancy, you dont go around throwing people in jail.

[THX_1138]

He was my schoolmate, and one of the guys who was in the car with him was a good buddy of mine. Nanda was an arrogant bugger, though the others got roped in unnecessarily. Anyway, I don't expect any severe punishment for these spoilt brats, especially in India ! PS: What's the penalty in the US for manslaughter due to reckless driving by a juvenile ?

over here, the fact that he stopped and then drove away would account to multiple charges and if the prosecution is overzealous (which it rarely is, as it always attempts to go for charges for which a conviction is most probable), the culprit can even be tried of first degree murder... the punishment for which can be either life imprisonment or a crispy tan.

[suraj]

that is the law... attempting to tamper with witness or to coach a witness or in other ways attempting to obstruct the testimony of a witness by persuasion or misdirection by a lawyer is not considered a crime grievous enough to be punished with jail time' date=' and usually results in a temporary or permanent disbarment. simply because it fits your fancy, you dont go around throwing people in jail.[/quote'] what nonsense its not a question of crime- according to the code of ethics for the bar the act means automatic disbarrement from practicing again this was a crap penalty

[THX_1138]

what nonsense its not a question of crime- according to the code of ethics for the bar the act means automatic disbarrement from practicing again this was a crap penalty

disbarment is a serious step and is only initiated in absolute extreme cases. the indian bar association or whatever they are called are a board of lawyers and respected judges and they are quite firm about the ethical practice of law. if you are not satisfied with their ruling, you are in effect suggesting that those who dedicate their lives to the business of upholding the law, their overseeing body is not able to meet your expectations of ethics... those are pretty serious allegations from someone who would otherwise not wait longer than a moment to bend the law to his own convenience...

[beetle]

well said and the defence is angry because they feel that since money was given to victims he should not be punished I tell you what its an extreme step but the fathers of such spoilt kids should also be sent to jail because they pride themselves on being able to provide the kids with all the riches and being able to protect them when they do something wrong.

Totally agree... Parents of children caught driving without licence or drinking and driving should be given the same punishment. If you are irresponsible enough to give the keys to iresponsible people , you deserve to be punished. BTW.. 3 0f the 6 killed were policemen.