The Hindu : New Delhi News : BMW witness retracts statement, again

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Friday, Jul 20, 2007
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New Delhi

BMW witness retracts statement, again

Staff Reporter

“Not sure if the prime accused was among those who came out of the car”

“Could not clearly see the occupants….could only describe their physiques”
“Sanjeev Nanda did not come out from the driver’s side”

NEW DELHI: Changing his statement once again, Sunil Kulkarni, the flip-flop eyewitness in the nine-year-old BMW hit-and-run case, told the trial court here on Thursday that he was not sure if prime accused Sanjeev Nanda was one of the occupants who came out of the car after the accident in which six persons were killed.

During cross-questioning by defence counsel Ramesh Gupta, Kulkarni told Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar that he could not clearly see the occupants who came out of the car after the accident and could only describe their physiques.

In his earlier deposition before the court, Kulkarni had said that Nanda was one of the three persons who came out of the car. He had also told the court that Nanda did not come out from the driver’s side.

Also, Kulkarni agreed with the suggestions put to him by the defence counsel that his statement was recorded by the police after due deliberations. He agreed that he was taken to the court lock-up where Nanda was being held. He also agreed that he was taken to the office of a news channel where he was shown video footage of Nanda before recording of his statement.

‘Delay in recording statement’

Kulkarni also told the court that the police deliberated for two days and then recorded his statement under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code. He told the court that the then public prosecutor in the case and the police deliberated on whether to book Nanda for murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The eyewitness also alleged that an officer of the Assistant Commissioner level beat up him mercilessly before his statement was recorded. When asked for the reason, Kulkarni said he was not sure if the officer was forcing him to stick to his earlier statement or change it.

Kulkarni has changed his statements many times during the course of the trial.

Meanwhile, recording of the statement of Kulkarni and his cross-questioning by the prosecution and defence ended on Thursday. The court had summoned him as a witness when the other main witnesses had turned hostile. He had earlier been dropped by the prosecution as “unreliable”.

Sting operation

During this period, Kulkarni was also instrumental in getting a sting operation conducted by a television news channel in which the then Public Prosecutor in the case, I. U. Khan, and defence counsel R. K. Anand were shown purportedly discussing with him ways to bail out Nanda against monetary consideration. Both lawyers had to leave their briefs and the Delhi High Court also ordered an inquiry into the sting operation.

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