Why a business tycoon killed his own driver?

“If I speak the truth, I will not live.”  were the last few words spoken by Janeshwar Sharma in a television interview. The deceased was working as a driver of the affluent business tycoon Anil Nanda.

In his interview, he alleged that Anil Nanda, his partner Jitendra Pandey and Manager Dhiraj Balani were involved in a sex scandal. He claimed that Nanda paid some boys to have sex with him at one his houses in the Friends Colony, Delhi. He also sexually exploited his employees at the said house. If the employees resisted the homosexual demands of Nanda, they had to face adverse consequences. He further claimed that he was also asked to spy on Nanda’s partner Vijay Sinha, on his opposition he was threatened by the accused.

“Janeshwar had opposed Nanda’s attempts to get physical and was, therefore, in his bad books. Once, he had caught Nanda in a compromising position with a male partner. Fearing that Janeshwar would disclose this to others, Nanda had begun hatching a conspiracy to kill him,” the victim’s younger brother, Yogesh Sharma, said.

Who is Anil Nanda?

Anil Nanda is the chairman of the Akme Projects and is the son of former Escorts group chairman HP Nanda. He is unmarried but his brother Rajan Nanda is married to Raj Kapoor’s daughter Ritu and their son is married to Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter Shweta.

Murder

Sharma was set on fire in morning of June 9 by some unidentified persons at Anil Nanda’s  residence. The attackers had thrown petrol over him before setting him on fire. He was admitted in hospital with 80% burn injuries. It is noteworthy that the doctor declared him fit for statement. But the police did not record his statement in spite of  repeated requests by the victim and his family.

Sharma’s brother alleged that on June 13 Nanda visited and threatened the victim in the hospital. Later Sharma succumbed to injuries on June 14.

Police Investigation

The conduct of Delhi police is questionable and disappointing.

1. The police didn’t record Sharma’s statement even when the doctor declared him fit for the same.

2. Sharma survived the injuries over a week but the police didn’t bother to record his statements.

3. Police didn’t question Anil Nanda until victim’s dying declaration was shown on television.

4. The police theory suggests that “a stranger” might be involved in the given case.

5. It also claims that Janeshwar was “alone” at the time of incident, indicating that it might be a suicide. It said that it had questioned 20 people who were near-by at the time of incident but no one saw Janeshwar being set on fire.

6. The police said that it would investigate why the CCTV camera’s didn’t work on the day of incident.

7. It has graciously agreed to investigate the call records of the people involved in the murder.

8. The police did not make any arrests saying that the victim had not mentioned any names in his first complaint.

9. It initially filled a case under 307 and then subsequently filled a fresh case under section 302.

10. At first, it ignored the letters written by the victim before his death “alleging threat to his life”.

11. There was delay in collection of forensic evidence from the place of crime.

12.  Although it is established that Nanda was present at his residence when the incident took place. Police is busy protecting the three saying that they were not present at the spot where Sharma was set alight.

Laws

Dying Declaration is based on the principle of “nemo moriturus proesumitur mentiri” a man will not meet his maker with a lie in his mouth.

Eventhough the court gives great value to the dying declaration, the court must have full confidence in the veracity and correctness of the statement. It is made by a dying person as to the cause of his death or as to any circumstances of the transaction that resulted in his death. It is an evidence under Section 32 of Indian Evidence Act,1872.

Conclusion

The case involves two aspects “dying declaration of a driver who alleged that he has attacked by his employers” and the involvement of Nanda in homosexual activities with young boys and his employees. If the former is proved than the latter would also hold water. Considering this, Nanda could be tried under Section 377 of IPC for the alleged carnal intercourse.

Since Sharma’s dying declaration was not recorded by the police, there lies a high probability of manipulation and misappropriation of evidences in the current case. Moreover, the court may doubt the veracity of the statements made by the victim on television. The F.I.R doesn’t mention names of any of the three accused and it would be very difficult to prosecute them. The police deliberately ignored the repeated complaints of the victim and his brother.

Yogesh (Victim’s brother) has still not been given police protection. The intentional abstention by the police to conduct a fair inquiry is highly disappointing. The case has been lost before the verdict. It would be either closed (as the culprits would not be found) or it would be proved as a suicide. Due to lack of evidences the courts might rule in favour of the “influential people”.

The case needs to be investigated and the truth must be established. But the present circumstances reveal that police is not even willing to consider Nanda a suspect.

Why do we need criminals when we have such efficient and honest police force?

The post is dedicated to one of our readers Mr Vinay Kakkar who suggested this topic in one of his comments.