Bar Council should take note of latest BMW expose: Sorabjee

New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) Soli Sorabjee, former attorney general of India, Tuesday said the Bar Council should take "very serious note" of a TV news channel 's sting operation allegedly showing Sunil Kulkarni, the controversial key witness in the 1999 BMW hit-and-run, taking favours from defence lawyer R.K. Anand.

According to the expose by NDTV Monday, Kulkarni spent several months in Anand's farmhouse near Shimla eight years ago and enjoyed his hospitality after the January 1999 accident in which six people were killed.

Reacting to the report, Sorabjee said: "Let the Bar Council take not, the disciplinary committee be composed of senior advocates, whose eminence and impartiality is not in question. "At the same time, R.K. Anand must have confidence in the composition of the tribunal," he said, adding that he felt sorry that a good lawyer had to resort to all this. "I find it very disheartening and very disappointing and very unfortunate that he had ever to resort to this. But if things have come to this, then obviously it is unacceptable," he said.

Ramesh Gupta, one of the lawyers defending Sanjeev Nanda, the main accused in the case, said: "Kulkarni was dropped as a witness in the year 1999 itself. As far as he enjoying the hospitality of Mr Anand, I have nothing to say because I don't know anything about it." R.K. Anand, when contacted, refused to comment on the television expose.

Terming it "professional misconduct", a Bar Council member said it "cannot be tolerated by the legal fraternity". Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said that action would be taken against Anand if found guilty. He added that the Bar Council would take up the matter at the highest level and make sure the guilty is punished. However, some lawyers felt otherwise. "The TV channel report has not been proved yet. The courts will take appropriate steps and punish the guilty, be it Anand or the channel."

The channel in its sting had also claimed that Kulkarni, who has changed his version in court several times, acquired a driving licence in Himachal Pradesh in the name of Nishikant Sharma, giving R.K. Anand's Shimla address as his residence and showing him as his father. Sanjeev Nanda is the grandson of former naval chief Admiral S.M. Nanda.

Bar association revokes suspension of two BMW case lawyers

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) The Supreme Court Bar Association Tuesday said it has restored its membership of criminal lawyers I.U. Khan and R.K. Anand, which was suspended after an expose by a TV channel purportedly showed them attempting to bribe a witness.

According to NDTV's investigative report last month, public prosecutor Khan and defence counsel Anand had joined hands to shield former navy chief Admiral S.M. Nanda's grandson Sanjeev Nanda from the clutches of the law in the BMW hit-and-run case of 1999.

Six people had died due to alleged drunken driving in the heart of Delhi.

Apex court bar association president P.S. Parekh told IANS, "The membership of the two lawyers has been restored following a majority decision of the executive committee of the association."

Anand said that the probe committee of the bar association did not find anything against him.

Parekh, however, clarified that the two lawyers "have not been given any clean chit by the bar association committee".

"As the Delhi High Court has initiated the probe into their alleged conduct, we decided to drop our investigation on the same issue," said Parekh.