Indian court convicts driver in famous BMW case
Legal World
A court on Tuesday convicted the son of a wealthy Indian arms dealer of manslaughter for running over and killing six people more than nine years ago in the so-called BMW case, an attorney said. The trial captivated the nation as a test of fairness of India's judicial system.
Sanjeev Nanda, 30, faces up to 10 years in jail on manslaughter charges, according to his attorney, Ramesh Gupta. Judge Vinod Kumar was expected to announce the sentence Wednesday, along with those of three other defendants who were convicted of destroying evidence.
Nanda is the son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda and a grandson of India's former naval chief, S. M. Nanda.
The high-profile case has been seen as a test of whether India's judicial system, which has a long history of favoring the well-connected, is willing to hold the wealthy accountable.
Many saw the ruling as an encouraging sign that India's two-tiered justice system was becoming a thing of the past.
"The fact that justice has prevailed will give some hope that the powerful can't get away with manipulating the system," said Ved Marwah, a retired police commissioner.
Prosecutors said Nanda and two of his friends were returning from a party at 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 10, 1999 when their BMW, speeding at roughly 85 miles per hour (135 kilometers per hour), crashed into seven people standing along an empty street. A witness reportedly saw the men stop, examine the damage to their car, then speed off. The victims, three policemen and three laborers, died.
Nanda and two friends who were with him in the car, Siddharta Gupta and Manik Kapoor, were classmates at an elite New Delhi private school. Nanda was home for the holidays from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.