BMW hit-and-run: HC reduces Sanjeev Nanda's jail term

The Delhi high court on Monday reduced Sanjeev Nanda’s jail term from 5 to 2 years in the BMW hit-and-run case. Nanda, 31, had mowed down six people, including three policemen, under his BMW 10 years ago.

A trial court last year sentenced him under the stringent Section 304 Part-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). But justice Kailash Gambhir of the high court set aside the trial court conviction and convicted him under the milder Section 304 A (causing death by rash and negligent act) IPC.

Having spent about nine months in jail after his arrest in 1999 and 10 months following his conviction, Nanda may now have to spend roughly five more months behind bars.
Sanjeev’s father Suresh Nanda hailed the judgement, saying, “justice has been done.

We’ve gone through a lot of trauma in the last 10 years but are happy with the court order. We’ll not appeal against it.” But the Delhi police argued against reducing Nanda’s term and its counsel said he would appeal against the sentence.

Strangely, the court reduced Nanda’s term even after taking a stern view of the events following the accident, like Nanda’s fleeing from the spot and attempts to win over witnesses during the trial.

Nanda’s counsel had initially appealed for his acquittal on the grounds that Nanda had “disbursed lakhs of rupees to the families of the victims as compensation.” However, the court dismissed it by observing, “If he was really so compassionate towards the victims, why did he take to his heels after causing the accident, knowing fully well the enormity of the casualty.”

The court also noted “every possible effort was made to destroy the evidence, to win over the witness and to influence the prosecution and the police.”

Drawing parallels between his trial and that of the Alistair Pereira hit-and-run case of Mumbai, Nanda had pleaded that the sentence the trial court awarded to him was excessive as in the Pereira case the accused was awarded three years imprisonment.