1999 Delhi hit-and-run case

Hit-and-run case

In the early morning of 10 January 1999, Sanjeev Nanda was returning from a late night party in Gurgaon with some friends.

Nanda had reportedly been instructed by his parents not to drive that night, but was driving anyway.{{cite news |access-date=16 August 2006}} There was a police checkpoint on Lodhi Road and it appears that the constable may have challenged the car, though it is also possible that the car was going so fast that it was out of control. Sanjeev's BMW crashed through all the people at the police checkpoint, immediately killing two constables and two others. Another policeman and another bystander died later in hospital. The seventh victim survived.{{ cite news |access-date=16 August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204110222/http://listserv.indnet.org/cgi/wa.cgi?A2=ind9901&L=india-l&P=805 |archive-date=4 February 2012

After running through the policemen, he allegedly stopped the car to check the damage, saw people under the car, and according to the prosecution, at this point a co-passenger said: "Let's go," and they quickly drove away.{{ cite web |access-date=16 August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050101130303/http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=72227 |archive-date=1 January 2005

NDTV sting operation

Defence lawyers were caught on camera offering money to a witness in an NDTV sting operation, and as a result, the Delhi High Court barred them from practice for four months.

Investigation

The vehicle's broken registration plate was found on the scene the next morning. Preliminary investigations revealed that the car would have been going at 140 km/h when it hit the victims.

Within a few hours of the incident, Inspector Jagdish Pandey of the Police Control Room of Delhi Police traced the car by trailing the oil leak to the grade from the spot of the accident. They found the one-month-old car, purchased in his sister Sonali Nanda's name, with foreign number plates, which had not been registered in India. Attempts to clean it were still in progress. Nanda and his friends were arrested, but his clothes, and those of the others who helped clean the car, were never found. Nanda and his friends were charged with culpable homicide in court.

Re-trial

The case went up for re-trial and was tried on a fast-track basis. On 2 September 2008, Nanda was convicted by a Delhi court for killing six people. On 3 August 2012 the Supreme Court reduced his prison sentence to the two years he had already spent in prison, but the court added a large fine, and sentenced Nanda to do community service for two years.

In popular culture

The case inspired the Bollywood movie Jolly LLB (2013) starring Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani, the Tollywood movie Sapthagiri LLB (2017) starring Saptagiri and Sai Kumar, and the Kollywood movie Manithan.

References

References

1. "Sanjeev Nanda's rough ride to jail in a BMW".
2. "Will the real Sanjeev Nanda stand up?". [[The Times of India]].
3. (2 September 2008). "Sanjeev Nanda, 3 others convicted in BMW hit-and-run case". Zee News.
4. [https://archive.today/20130219014203/http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?issueid=&id=14673&option=com_content&task=view&sectionid=4 indiatoday.digitaltoday.in]
5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080905110922/http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/03/stories/2008090360271200.htm Sanjeev Nanda's friend acquitted]
6. (11 January 1999). "Police team rewarded for nabbing mishap suspects". The Tribune, Chandigarh.
7. (4 August 2012). "BMW hit-and-run: Court slaps Rs. 50 lakh fine on Nanda". The Hindu.
8. "'Jolly LLB' review: The film's not a bad way to spend the evening". Ibnlive.in.com.