BMW sting: SC upholds R K Anand conviction

Nanda was recently sentenced to two years in jail.

The High Court last August had held both guilty of contempt and for obstructing justice. It barred them from appearing in any court for four months,fined them Rs 2,000 each and also stripped them of their seniority. Both then challenged the judgment in the Supreme Court.

The apex court minced no words for Anand: “The action of the appellant in trying to suborn the court witness in a criminal trial was reprehensible enough but his conduct before the High Court aggravates the matter manifold.”

The Bench issued a notice for enhancement of his punishment as provided under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act. It further said,“We also hold that by his actions and conduct the appellant has established himself as a person who needs to be kept away from the portals of the court for a longer time.”

Anand was granted two months from Wednesday to furnish his response.

However,the apex court let off Khan from the contempt charge as nothing could be “satisfactorily established against him”. The three-member Bench of Justices B N Aggarwal,G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam gave him the “benefit of doubt” but not without castigating his role as “inappropriate”.

The Bench in its 175-page judgment also took strong exception at the way the BMW trial was “allowed to be constantly interfered till it almost became directionless.” “There is nothing to show that the High Court,as an institution,as a body,took any step to thwart the nefarious activities aimed at undermining the trial and to ensure that it proceeded on the proper course. As a result,everyone seemed to feel free to try to subvert the trial in any way they pleased,” it said.

Judge Aggarwal recalled that in many high courts in the country,one hears of investigations deliberately botched up or trials hijacked by the powerful accused.

The court also said that the sting operation by the television channel was in public interest.