In the series of electronic media sting operations, this one done by NDTV, has exposed the link between the prosecution and defence advocates in a high profile BMW hit-and-run case in Mumbai. Sanjiv Nanda had allegedly run over his BMW on six people on Lodhi Road in Delhi on Jan 10, 1999. Sanjiv Nanda is the grandson of former Indian Navy chief, Admiral S.M. Nanda and son of an arms dealer.

The visuals showed as the prosecution and defence attorneys saught to bribe the alone surviving witness to change his testimony in this case. The sole witness in the case, Sunil Kulkarni, was being influenced by the attorneys of the case and was being forced to change the statement in favor of the accused.

The report says that NDTV had the visuals for two months but the channel decided to air this just before the crucial hearing of the case. This has attracted wider attention across the nation. During the sting operation, the prosecution counsel I.U Khan informed Kulkarni that he has been dropped as a prosecution witness. The visuals showed Khan directing Kulkarni to meet defence counsel R.K. Anand, a former MP who is representing Nanda in the case.

Later, Kulkarni approached Anand and asked him if he should demand Rs 2.5 crores from the Nandas for withdrawing his proposed statements to the court. Then, aggravated Anand asked Kulkarni to demand Rs 5 crores.

On this visuals of sting operation, RK Anand reacted by saying that everything was fabricated in the visuals. He said that as Kulkarni is a blackmailer so he had joked to demand money as Rs 5 crore. Anand was found saying in his car to Kulkarni that in the sting operation that the incident was an accident not a murder. He also said that Nanda had already spent around nine months in the jail.

Earlier, Nanda was ghanted bail after the other six witnesses to the incident, except Kulkarni, had turned hostile and changed their statements in this case. The sole witness Kulkarni told NDTV that he also met Lovely, a sikh gentleman, who had promised him to fix the deal on Rs 2 crores.

The entire episode clearly shows that how the influential people turned the case in favor of their near and dear ones by influencing the witnesses. The Congress spokesperson said that all this is quite depressing and requires a thorough investigation. The Union Minister Kapil Sibal also accepted that agreement between defence and prosecution lawyers derails many criminal cases.

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