New Delhi: Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former navy chief Admiral S M Nanda, on Monday approached the Delhi High Court, challenging the five-year prison term he was awarded by Patiala House Court on September 5.
The court had sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment, convicting him under Section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code - culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Nanda had mowed down six people, including three policemen, while drunk and driving his BMW car.
Filing his appeal through his counsel Ramesh gupta, Nanda stated that the lower court had relied on the wrong circumstances and media pressure to nail him.
“It is not proved at any point of time that Sanjeev was driving the vehicle and even the judgement did not talk about this fact,” said Gupta.
He added that court relied on the testimony of Sunil Kulkarni, who is unreliable and came before the court only after submission of evidences was closed from the prosecution side.
Nanda also pleaded that till the time his appeal is pending in this court, he should be granted bail.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, while awarding the punishment commented on Nanda's educational background and his exposure to Western culture, saying: “Sanjeev Nanda was already exposed to Western culture where drunken driving is taboo, and if someone indulges in it the consequences are very harsh.”
Gupta further added that it is apparent from the judgement that it was mere media pressure that had forced the judge to convict Nanda.
The court is likely to hear his appeal on Tuesday.
Along with Nanda, businessman Rajiv Gupta, who was found guilty of destroying evidence, was given one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,000.
Gupta has already approached the high court, challenging the verdict.
His two domestic helps Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh, also held guilty of destroying evidence by washing the blood stains from the car after the accident, were sentenced to six months in jail and fined Rs.100 each.
All three were given bail soon after the ruling on a surety of Rs.10,000 each.
Sanjeev Nanda was returning from a party in Gurgaon, the upcoming suburb of the national capital, with his friends Manik Kapoor and Siddharth Gupta in his luxury car in the early hours of Jan 10, 1999, when he drove it over six people in south Delhi's Lodhi Colony area.
Sanjeev, son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda, is a British national. He studied in Modern School, Delhi, and was a management student from Wharton, one of the finest B-schools in the US.
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