The court said this act of the petitioner ``inter alia may take the case out of section 304A and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of Indian Penal Code and might amount to murder under section 300 of IPC''.

``Apart from other circumstances, the act of the petitioner in driving away the car after getting down from it and seeing some injured persons entangled under it crying for help... was not only dangerous but too cruel and callous,'' the court said.

``Apparently, the petitioner had not heeded to the cries of the injured to stop the car and rather drove it dragging them,'' it said.

There was reasonable apprehension of the evidence being destroyed and tampered with and granting bail would not not be in the larger interest of the public and the state, the court said.

Sanjiv, accompanied by two of his friends, had knocked down seven people, including three policemen on January 10 on Lodhi Road. He and his friends were allegedly drunk.

He has been lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody since his arrest on January 11 while two of his friends were granted bail by the lower court.

The High Court said it has to take into account various facts, the nature and seriousness of the offence, the conduct of the offender, circumstances peculiar to the accused and reasonable possibility of his presence during the trial. The court took serious view of Sanjiv's father Suresh Nanda, an arms dealer, setting up a fund for payment to the victims saying ``it shows the petitioner belongs to an affluent family. Law does not discriminate between the high and the low, the rich and the poor.''

``One should not get an impression that administration of justice can be defeated by a wealthy and influential person. The rule of law demands that it should be administered even-handedly and in the best interest of the society,'' it said. Senior advocate R.K. Anand, appearing for Sanjiv, pleaded that his client, a British passport holder, was studying in the US and his career would be adversely affected.