The main accused in the BMW hit-and-run case Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former naval chief S N Nanda, on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court for speedy trial as he hopes to go abroad for studies in case the judgement went in his favour. Justice K S Gupta issued notice to the prosecution on his petition, directing it to file reply by December five about the current status of the trial in a Sessions Court.
Nanda, in his petition filed by his counsel R K Anand, pleaded the High Court to issue direction to the trial court to hold speedy trial in the case as provided under Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The petitioner said since the trial court has examined all key witnesses and statements of only formal witnesses remain to be recorded, prosecution should take steps to expedite the trial without any further delay. Nanda has been charged of killing six people including three police personnel by crushing them under his BMW car in the wee hours of January 10, 1999 in a South Delhi colony while returning from a party along with his friends.
Police had cited about 60 witnesses in the case and half of them had been examined by the court. All the key witnesses, however, turned hostile in the court as they retracted from their statements given earlier to the police.
Nanda's family had paid a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each victims' family and Rs five lakh to a surviving victim. Nanda, presently on bail, was doing MBA from US and was on holidays when the incident took place. He had to abandon his studies after his arrest and chargesheeting.
Bureau Report