BMW case: Nanda permitted to go abroad

In a virtual New Year gift for Sanjeev Nanda, accused of mowing down six people with his BMW car in 1999, a court in New Delhi permitted him to go on a foreign trip till January five.

"I permit Sanjeev Nanda to go abroad as the special public prosecutor has no objection to his plea," Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar said and asked him to come back by January five for day-to-day recording of evidence of defence witnesses.

The court took note of the fact that Nanda's application described him as a British citizen, and told his counsel Ramesh Gupta that he (Nanda) should furnish the blood test reports before it on December 11, the next date of hearing.

Nanda's application, seeking permission to examine witnesses, to prove his innocence was partially allowed by the court after dropping journalist Sanjay Vohra, who in his write up alleged that the offending vehicle was not a BMW, from the list of witnesses.

The court would decide on December 11 about the inclusion of Gauri Shankar, a Mumbai resident who had recently claimed that key witness Sunil Kulkarni was in Mumbai on the day of incident, as defence witness after watching a CD, supplied to Nanda by a television news channel.

Earlier, Sumitra Nanda, wife of former Navy chief Admiral S M Nanda and Sanjeev's grandmother, had deposed as the first defence witness and said that her grandson was innocent.

"He is innocent. This is what he told me at the time of arrest and he never lies to me," Nanda had said in her 15-minute statement.

Earlier, Sanjeev Nanda, recording his statement under section 313 of the CrPC that provides an accused an opportunity to record his defence, had said that he was not inside the car at the time of incident.

He had further alleged that investigators implicated him as they were in a hurry to work out the case.

Nanda, who was driving the car in an inebriated state with his two friends, had mowed down six people, including three Delhi Police constables, near Lodhi Hotel here during the morning hours of January 10, 1999, prosecution alleged.