Kailash Gambhir, J.

The miracle is not to fly in air or to travel to the moon, but to walk on the earth", says a Chinese proverb.

1. The increase in vehicular traffic alongwith the population of Delhi has grown much faster since the time Maruti Company has flooded the market with their brand of cars for the middle class of the society. Although the capital of the country is dominated by the middle and lower class, but the presence of rich and affluent is no less visible when one looks at the roads of Delhi to find large number of high class luxurious cars, including the Mercedes and BMWs. The traditional mode of travelling by tangas, bicycles, rickshaws, two wheelers is coming to gradual extinct except in the interiors of some localities.

2. Except for a few hours between midnight to dawn, one cannot see even a patch of earth but vehicles and vehicles either running or stranded in traffic jams on Delhi roads. This ever increasing vehicular explosion in traffic is due to the rapid increase of human population primarily due to continuous migration of people in search of their livelihood from adjoining states and from far flung areas. In this unmanageable crowd, what we have lost is humanity, morals, our age old rich culture, tradition, ethos and path of truthfulness and righteousness as shown to us by saints and scriptures. Of all the maladies afflicting India, the malady of inner decay reigns supreme. There is a weakening of our moral fibre and ethical values. Corruption, red tapism, callousness, casualness and crumbling moralities dominate our public life instead of much needed culture of care, compassion, empathy, and catholicity.

3. Drunken driving, insensitivity and apathy of the Government for public safety on roads; poor, faulty and ill equipped police investigation; growing interference of media in criminal trials; media hype; hostile and dishonest witnesses; falling standards of legal profession, filthy use of money power by rich and mighty; unholy nexus between defence counsel and State appointed Special Public Prosecutors are some of the issues that cropped up in this infamous case known as the BMW case.

Brief Facts

4. In this background, it would be relevant to briefly put forth the facts of the case before delving upon the contentions of counsel for the parties, which are as under:

5. At about 4:00 am on the cold wintry morning of 10/1/1999, the accused Sanjeev Nanda in an inebriated state, without an Indian driving licence while driving a brand new BMW car bearing registration No. M 312 LYP caused an accident at the Lodhi Road in which 6 persons, including three police officers were trampled to death and one person was injured. After causing the accident, the accused Sanjeev Nanda fled away from the accident spot and parked the accidental car at 50 Golf Links at the residence of his friend Siddharth Gupta. The accused has been convicted under Section 304(II) IPC and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by the trial court for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Accused Siddharth Gupta was discharged by this Court and accused Manik Kapoor was acquitted by the trial court. Accused Rajiv Gupta, Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh Rana have been convicted by the trial court under Section 201(II) IPC for causing disappearance of evidence of offence committed by accused. Aggrieved with the said orders of conviction & sentence dated 2/9/2008 passed by the learned trial judge, the appellant Sanjeev Nanda preferred appeal bearing Crl. A. No. 807/2008; Rajiv Gupta preferred appeal bearing Crl. A. No. 767/2008; and Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh Rana preferred appeal bearing Crl. A. No. 871/2008.

6. First, I will deal with the Crl. A. No. 807/2008 and then I will deal with Crl. A. Nos. 767/2008 and 871/2008.

Crl. A. No. 807/2008 Arguments of the appellant

7. At the outset of his arguments, Mr. Ram Jethmalani, learned Senior Advocate with a view to narrow down the controversy very fairly admitted to the factum of accident and t