High-profile Indian lawyer convicted for influencing witness

Jul 29, 2009, 8:49 GMT

   New Delhi - In a crucial judgment, India's Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the conviction of high-profile criminal lawyer RK Anand for contempt of court for trying to influence a witness in connection with a hit-and-run case.

   The court upheld a lower court ruling convicting defence lawyer Anand for trying to influence a key witness in collusion with public prosecutor IU Khan to shield the main accused, Sanjeev Nanda, in a 1999 hit-and-run case in which six people, including three policemen, were killed.

   The court found Khan's conduct 'inappropriate' but set aside his conviction and cleared him of contempt charges, saying criminal charges could not be substantiated, IANS news agency reported.

   The Supreme Court bench pronounced its verdict after watching original footage of a sting operation carried out by NDTV television which caught the two lawyers on camera trying to influence the witness, Sunil Kulkarni, to change his testimony.

   The Delhi High Court had found both lawyers guilty in August 2008 and barred them from practising in any court in New Delhi for four months. They were also stripped of their status as senior counsel.

   Anand subsequently appealled to the Supreme Court.

   The Supreme Court's ruling on Anand is being seen as crucial in view of complaints of widespread corruption in India's judicial system.

   'This is a wake-up call for the Bar Council to come forward and hold lawyers responsible for professional misconduct,' senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said.

   'There are many more RK Anands lurking around, threatening, buying off witnesses. The judiciary and every section of society needs to wake up to the massive subversion of justice that is going on,' Bhushan said.

   Nanda was sentenced to five years in jail by the Delhi High Court in September 2008 for driving in an inebriated state and running over and killing six people.

   Nanda belongs to an influential business family. His grandfather was chief of the Indian Navy, and his father is an international arms dealer. Most of the people mowed down by his car were poor people.

   India has seen retrials and at least three verdicts against scions of wealthy or influential families in the past few years with the media and social activists playing an active role.