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Witness unable to identify driver in BMW case

Staff Reporter

Cross-examination to resume tomorrow

NEW DELHI: In what could prove to be a reprieve for the eight-year-old BMW hit-and-run case prime accused Sanjeev Nanda, eyewitness Sunil Kulkarni on Tuesday told a city court that the person who came out from the driver's side of the car on the fateful night was a hefty man and his physical attributes did not match Nanda's.

Replying to questions from Special Public Prosecutor I. U. Khan during cross-examination, Kulkarni told Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar that a hefty man came out of the driver's seat and that person was not present in the court now. However, he agreed that Nanda was one of the occupants to have come out of the car. During the last court hearing of the case on May 17, Kulkarni had identified Nanda as the one of three persons who had come out of the car following the accident on January 10, 1999. However, he had then said he was not sure who got out from the driver's car.

The prosecution also tried to establish that the statements which the eyewitness made in the court during the last hearing had "certain improvements and contradictions" over the statements he had made before the police and the Metropolitan Magistrate earlier and that he did so under the influence of, or under threat from, the accused. Kulkarni, however, denied it. He agreed with the prosecution's contention, though, that the accused were influential, rich and well connected.

All through the questioning, Kulkarni kept reiterating that he was under no influence from the accused. "Had that been the case, I would not have identified Nanda in the first place," he told the court. The prosecution also referred to a statement he had allegedly made before the Investigating Officer in February 1999 apparently identifying Nanda as the man who drove the vehicle involved in the accident. But Kulkarni denied having made any such statement. On May 31, the cross-examination of the eyewitness by prosecution will resume. The defence will cross-examine the eyewitness subsequently.

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