Sanjeev Nanda

New Delhi, Aug. 22: The spoilt rich kid who had mowed down six people in his BMW walked out of Tihar jail last evening, “redeemed” but with empty pockets.

Sanjeev Nanda, 31, who earned three months’ remission because of good conduct, wasn’t eligible for pay for the work he did in prison, officials said.

Former navy chief S.M. Nanda’s grandson taught fellow inmates English and computers every day for five hours, in the morning and afternoon.

Had he, however, chosen to work in the jail factory, the young man with a foreign MBA degree would have earned Rs 52 per day as a skilled labourer, or Rs 17.50 as a semi-skilled worker, or Rs 12.75 as an unskilled labourer.

Actor Sanjay Dutt had done just that. He took home Rs 204 for his 16 days of labour in Yerawada jail after being convicted in the 1993 blasts case.

Nanda, who walked out of Tihar’s jail No. 4 at 7pm, had been informed yesterday noon that he would be freed the same day.

“It seemed he wasn’t expecting it so soon. His face lit up when officials told him he would be released that very day. It is evident that the spoilt, irresponsible boy who had killed six people has become a mature man,” a jail official said, sounding perhaps a little too gushy.

It had taken the courts nine years to convict Nanda in the 1999 hit-and-run case, with witnesses turning hostile, lawyers convicted of buying off witnesses, and a judge declaring the case had been “hijacked by the rich and influential” accused.

“Nanda gave a lot of satisfaction to others, helped others to learn, and never created any problems for jail officials. So he was granted remission,” law officer Sunil Gupta said.

A jail superintendent can grant remission for good behaviour to any prisoner who has already served out more than three months of his term.

Jail sources said Nanda had promised to help Manish, an inmate, by paying the Rs 10,000 surety for his bail.

Nanda had been sentenced to five years last September, but Delhi High Court had on July 20 reduced the term to two years. Since he had already spent over 19 months in jail, he had just four-and-a-half months of his term left.

Nanda, who wore a green kurta and black pyjamas, was greeted at the prison gates by father Suresh Nanda, mother Renu, sister Sonali and girlfriend Medha. All of them hugged.

The reunion could, however, be short-lived if the Supreme Court upholds the prosecution’s appeal against the high court order reducing his sentence.