21 July : The Delhi High Court on Monday upheld the conviction of Sanjeev Nanda in the infamous BMW hit-and-run case but reduced his sentence from five to two years jail term.
Justice Kailash Gambhir convicted him under milder penal provision for mowing down six persons, including three policemen, with his vehicle in 1999.
The court also reduced by half the quantum of sentence against three others – businessmen Rajeev Gupta and his two employees Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh, who were punished for destruction of evidence in the case.
Gupta was sentenced to six months prison term from one year awarded by a trial court.His two employees were awarded three months jail term from their six months sentence.
The court, in its 274-page judgement, ordered criminal prosecution of controversial eyewitness Sunil Kulkarni for misleading the court by giving false testimony.
Justice Gambhir asked Registrar General of the High Court to initiate proceedings against Kulkarni.Nanda’s mother Renu broke down when the judge declared that his jail term has been reduced to two years.
Nanda, 31, the grandson of former naval chief S M Nanda, has been in jail since September five last year after being sentenced to five-year jail term by the trial court, barring a few weeks of interim bail.
The legal proceeding in this high-profile case saw many twists and turns with not only court hearings but also out-of-court developments in the case grabbing the headlines for different reasons.
The case saw key witnesses turning hostile and Nanda’s counsel R K Anand and former Special Public Prosecutor I U Khan being found guilty of obstruction of justice, following a TV sting that showed Kulkarni with them.Nanda had crushed six persons to death while driving the BMW car in an inebriated condition in the wee hours of 10th January, 1999 at Lodhi Colony in South Delhi.
A small article i wrote for my college on the Sanjeev Nanda issue
Sanjeev Nanda with a dream to turn businesses into empires, embarked into the world of entrepreneurship; and as professionals were put together to manage the show, Nanda stepped in to play the role of ‘managing the managers’ while focusing equally on business development. A Businessman with a vision, Nanda has been successful in every venture he has stepped into.
“Challenges are a process of learning. The idea is not to bow down and give up, but take them as a cue to work harder to achieve the goals one has set for himself. I try to ensure that I do not get distracted, but stay committed to my dream of making my businesses the best in the country” said Sanjeev Nanda once philosophically about his life. Life has not been a cakewalk for Sanjeev Nanda but with the kind of dynamism he has, he is sure to make it big.
Peep into the lives of successful and famous and one will find phases of darkness or suffering. These phases often leave their mark in the form of invaluable learning’s, as painful times help in surfacing the best of person’s values and virtues.
Owing to the hue and cry created by Media, Sanjeev’s name on the internet invariably pops up the infamous BMW hit-and-run case. What very few are able to see is that he has suffered enough for his unintentional mistake, that he compensated the victims to their satisfaction and faced the trial in the hope of justice. It was only in 2009, 10 years after the unfortunate incident, that Justice Kailash Gambhir reduced Nanda’s sentence after terming it a case of negligence rather than culpable homicide. Whoever has met Sanjeev, believes that he has been punished more than enough.
Sanjeev Nanda, who graduated from The Wharton School, one of the finest business schools in the US, has the calibre and vigour to put the past as past and look ahead to opportunities and blessings that life has to offer. Media hue and cry will always be there, but for the people who know Sanjeev Nanda well and have worked with him, he will always be an exemplary businessman, a great friend & family man and above all a good human being.