Sanjeev Nanda’s friend acquitted
New Delhi: The Additional District and Sessions Court acquitted here on Tuesday Manik Kapoor, a friend of Sanjeev Nanda, travelling in the BMW at the time of the hit-and-run.
“The prosecution has not been able to lead any evidence against accused Manik Kapoor except his one fingerprint on the outer body of the BMW car. This fingerprint does not prove anything. Therefore, I acquit accused Manik Kapoor,” said judge Vinod Kumar.
On the day of the accident, Sanjeev took his sister Sonali Nanda’s car from her residence to attend a party at his friend’s house.
After the party, driving back in an inebriated state around 4 a.m., he ploughed into six persons near a petrol pump on Lodhi Road. His friends Manik and Sidharth were also with him. Sidharth was later discharged by the Delhi High Court.
On Tuesday morning, Sanjeev, a Wharton Business School graduate, and his family reached the court well before pronouncement of the judgment. Sanjeev visited a temple on Tughlak Road on his way and sported vermilion on his forehead.
During the proceedings, he remained calm and composed, but his family members and relatives could not hold back their tears when the judge pronounced him guilty.
His grandmother Gayatri Nanda walked up to him as the judgment was delivered, saying that he had not done anything wrong. Tears welled up in the eyes of the Nandas and their relatives when the policemen took Sanjeev into custody.
Manik was also seen crying inconsolably. “My friend Sanjeev is innocent,” he was heard saying.
The Nandas, however, refused to comment on the conviction. His father Suresh Nanda, an arms dealer, said he would look into the judgment before commenting.
During the nine-year-long trial, the case saw many twists and turns with an eye-witness Manoj Malik turning hostile and efforts being made to win over the families of the victims by offering compensation and the prosecution dropping Mumbai-based Sunil Kulkarni as an eye-witness, condemning him as a won-over man.
Even prominent criminal lawyers R.K. Anand and I.U. Khan, involved in the case, were caught on camera offering money to Sunil Kulkarni by an English television channel’s sting operation. The Delhi High Court later barred both the advocates from practising for four months.
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