Delhi court rejects Anand's plea

Delhi HC dismisses an application of senior advocate RK Anand challenging the contempt proceedings against him for allegedly trying to influence a controversial witness in a hit-and-run case.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed an application of senior advocate RK Anand challenging the contempt proceedings against him for allegedly trying to influence a controversial witness in a hit-and-run case.

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Delivering an 18-page judgment, Justice Manmohan Sarin, one of the two judges on the bench said, "The prayer is declined and his application is dismissed."

"The application filed by Mr Anand is a case of forum hunting and browbeating the court, which has to be firmly dealt with," he added.

In a dissenting order Justice SK Mishra said, "The application revolved around certain factual assertions, which needed to be examined." He, however, refused to express any opinion.

"I express no opinion one way or another. I am unable to concur with Justice Sarin," Justice Mishra said.

Anand was the advocate appearing for prime accused Sanjiv Nanda in the BMW hit-and-run case. News channel NDTV earlier this year on-camera recorded senior counsel IU Khan, appearing for the Delhi Police, allegedly directing witness Sunil Kulkarni to meet Anand to arrive at a compromise to weaken the case against the accused for some consideration.

The court took notice of the NDTV sting operation and served contempt notice on the police and both lawyers seeking their explanations.

"We cannot enter into any kind of controversy but nothing would deter us to write what we believe," Justice Sarin said, while dismissing Anand's application.

Advocate Sanjay Jain who appeared for NDTV, opposed the recusal of Anand from the case saying that the case needed to be taken to its logical conclusion.