Front Page

Court goes by Pareira’s case

NEW DELHI: Sanjeev Nanda was handed down a five-year rigorous imprisonment sentence by a court here on Friday for mowing down six persons, including three policemen, in the nine-year-old BMW hit-and-run case.

Pronouncing the quantum of sentence at the Patiala House courtroom in the afternoon, Additional District and Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar said: “The convict Sanjeev Nanda is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years with benefit under Section 428 of the Criminal Procedure Code.”

This means that the nine months spent by the convict in jail during trial would be deducted from his prison term of five years. The court, however, did not impose any fine on him.

Grandson of former Navy Chief S.M. Nanda, the 30-year-old businessman was held guilty under Section 304 (II) of the Indian Penal Code on Tuesday, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years.

Businessman Rajeev Gupta, who was convicted under Section 201 (II) of the Indian Penal Code of destruction of evidence, was sentenced to a year’s rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,000. His two employees — Shyam Singh and Bhola Nath —were handed down a six-month jail term and a fine of Rs.100 each for washing off bloodstains from the vehicle.

The sentence awarded to Rajeev Gupta and his two employees was, however, suspended till November 3 on their furnishing personal bonds, to provide them an opportunity to file an appeal in the High Court.

In determining the quantum of sentence, the court referred to Alister Pareira’s case in which the 21-year-old had run over seven persons sleeping on the pavement of Carter Road in Mumbai on November 12, 2006. Though a sessions court sentenced Alister to six months in prison, the Bombay High Court suo motu took up the matter and enhanced his sentence to three years.

“The best course to determine the quantum of punishment is to see the “precedence” of a similar case. To my mind the nearest case, which has come to the notice of this court, is Alister Pareira’s case decided by the Bombay High Court. The said case was also a case of drunken driving. If the present case is compared with Pareira’s, it would be found that the case of Sanjeev Nanda is much graver,” observed the Judge Vinod Kumar in his eight-page order on sentence.

Comparing the two cases, the court said Sanjeev had consumed more alcohol than Alister and hit the persons standing on the road, which means that the convict was in a position to clearly see them. In the other case, the victims were sleeping on the footpath.

Speaking to the media after pronouncement of the judgment, Sanjeev’s father Suresh Nanda, an arms dealer, said: “Now that the judgment has been pronounced, we will explore all legal possibilities and go for an appeal in the High Court.” Sanjeev, who looked emotionally drained in court, was flanked by his father and grandmother Gyatari Nanda. His sister Sonali and friend Manik Kapoor, who was earlier acquitted by the court, were also present.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu