ALMOST six years after a speeding BMW killed five people, including three police constables, and maimed one on a freezing January night at Lodhi Road in the capital, the identity of the driver of the vehicle continues to be a mystery. The name first mentioned in this connection was that of Sanjeev Nanda, former Naval chief Admiral S M Nanda’s grandson, who was allegedly travelling in the car with two of his friends; all of them were reportedly inebriated. But in court, eyewitnesses claimed that the killer vehicle was not a car at all, but a truck! ‘‘There is no evidence whatsoever that Sanjeev was driving the vehicle,’’ says Ramesh Gupta, Nanda’s lawyer. ‘‘The only evidence available are some broken bits of the BMW numberplate.’’ With the prosecution case’s weak, the Delhi High Court had no hesitation in granting bail to Nanda in October 1999 after keeping him in custody for 10 months. While on bail, Nanda filed an application to go abroad for higher studies. A personal bond of Rs 5 crore was set up in February 2002, and Nanda was on his way to the US for an MBA course. He has resurfaced recently in the capital circuit as the managing director of a leading city hotel. Two persons were allegedly entangled in the rear portion of the car. ‘‘Instead of helping them, he sped away in the vehicle, resulting in the death of the two persons at the spot,’’ the chargesheet said. Nanda then allegedly drove to 50, Golf Links, his friend Siddhartha’s house, and parked the car in the driveway. Siddhartha’s father Rajeev and the two domestics helped hide the evidence, the chargesheet said. Five years after the incident, the sessions court recorded Nanda’s statement. While defense lawyers deny any charge of a delayed trial, records show that in 2001, Nanda himself had sought closing of the evidence of the prosecution witnesses on the grounds of slow trial. CASE FILE Flashback• ON THE NIGHT of January 9, 1999, five people died and one was injured when a vehicle ran them over on Lodhi Road, New Delhi • DURING TRIALl, key witnesses turned hostile; the killer vehicle became ‘‘maybe a truck’’ • THE COURT IS currently recording statements of the accused Deposing before the court of ASJ S L Bayana in January this year, Nanda denied any connection with the incident, but accepted that he had had beer on that night. The BMW, however, was not his, nor was he driving it, he said. Though the statement of the other accused is currently being recorded, in public opinion the BMW accident is yet another case that has run out of steam in convicting the accused.
