Nanda was not driving killer BMW; witness tells court

NEW DELHI: In a setback to the prosecution in the BMW hit-and-run case, a key witness on Tuesday told a trial court here that it was not Sanjeev Nanda, the main accused, who was driving the car which mowed down six persons in 1999.

"It was a healthy and hefty man that emerged out of the driving seat of the car just after the accident and he is not present in the court right now," Kulkarni, a Mumbai-based trader, told Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar during his cross-examination by the prosecution.

As against the prosecution theory that claimed that Nanda, grandson of former Naval Chief S M Nanda, was on the steering when the accident took place, he said the alleged driver's physical features did not match with either of the accused present in the courtroom.

Kulkarni, however, admitted Nanda was one of the occupants who alighted from the car just after the incident.

He reiterated that it was sheer Delhi "police pressure" that had forced him to name Sanjeev Nanda in his earlier statement whereas he had actually heard his nick name 'Sanj' or 'Sanz' being used by co-accused after the accident.

Kulkarni also virtually disowned his statement made to the police on March 31, 1999, in which he had identified Nanda at the Patiala House courts as the man who "killed" six people by his rash driving.

"I do not remember having made any such statement to the police and had it been the case, I would not have waited for such a long time," he told the court.

Earlier during the day, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Nanda's petition challenging summoning of Kulkarni as a court witness and allowed his cross-examination.

Kulkarni, however, said, "It is incorrect that I was dropped by the prosecution because I was threatened by the accused and was under their influence".

Asked why he did not confide to the Magistrate, who had recorded his statement on January 17, 1999, for the first time, Kulkarni said he was "under pressure" to say that there was no pressure on him.

Kulkarni's cross-examination, which remained inconclusive today, would continue on May 31 and the defence would start cross-examining him in the eight-year-old case.

During recording of his statement on May 17, he had identified Nanda as one of the three occupants of the car.

Contending that he was "shocked" to witness the incident, he had said that he could not help the injured persons due to his state of mind.

Kulkarni was dropped on September 30, 1999, by the prosecution from being examined after two other eye-witnesses Manoj Mallik and Hari Shankar turned hostile in the case.

The prosecution alleged that Nanda, who was driving the car, was in an inebriated state along with his friends Manik Kapoor and Siddharth Gupta at the time of the accident.

Nanda, however, approached the High Court after the trial court had on March 19 allowed two applications filed by the prosecution -- seeking the court's permission to take Nanda's blood sample and to summon Kulkarni for testimony.

Holding that there was no infirmity in the trial court's order, the High Court today gave a go ahead for his cross examination.