1998 Wharton graduate Sanjeev Nanda is being held for his alleged role in six death in India. A recent Wharton graduate was jailed last week after allegedly killing six people in a hit-and-run accident in India. Sanjeev Nanda, 21, who graduated in December, allegedly hit a crowd of people in the capital city of New Dehli at around 4 a.m. on January 10 while driving home from a party with at least one friend in the car. He reportedly fled from the scene and tried to wash the blood off of his car at another friend's house. He was arrested that afternoon by local police who found his blood alcohol content to be 0.11 several hours after the incident, The Times of India reported. In the United States, the legal threshold for a driving while intoxicated charge varies from .08 to .10, depending on the state. Now Nanda -- in custody until January 30 -- faces a charge of "culpable homicide," similar to manslaughter, and another charge of causing disappearance of evidence, the Times said. An eyewitness who was walking on the road at the time of the accident told the Times that he saw Nanda's car driving at "a great speed" when it suddenly swerved to the left and hit a group of people standing by a gas station. The witness said two of the people were pulled under the car, while the other four landed on and bounced off of the hood and windshield. The car then swerved to the right, with one person still stuck under it. Two people stepped out of the car to see what happened. As the injured people screamed for help, the two men got back in the car and drove off, crushing another man under the front tire of the car as they pulled away, according to the witness. Two friends of Nanda's have also been arrested. Police believe at least one was in the car with him and that both helped wash blood off the car. One of the two friends' fathers and two of his employees were also arrested. They were charged with destroying evidence and were released on bail the same day. Nanda's BMW was found at one of his friend's residences, and someone had attempted to wash the blood stains off the car. Police traced the accident to Nanda by following oil leaks left by the damaged car. At Penn, people who knew Nanda said they were surprised to hear about the allegations. Wharton senior Shane Finneran, who lived in the same hall as Nanda during their freshman year, expressed shock when he heard of the accident. "We referred to [Nanda] as the prince because he had such a dignified air. He was just a classy guy in general," Finneran said. Wharton graduate Michelle Cho, who also lived in the same hallway as Nanda during his freshman year, said she, too, remembers him in a good light. "He's such a friendly guy, he always had a smile on his face," Cho said. "It's just hard to imagine." And Wharton spokesperson Chris Hardwick said the school was still trying to confirm that the Sanjeev Nanda who attended Penn and the one now in jail in India are the same person. He added that Penn officials were saddened to hear of the incident. "This is a terrible tragedy and we trust that justice will be served in the case through due process," he said in a statement. Local papers and police authorities seized on the fact that Nanda and his family are wealthy, paying particular attention to the fact that he was allegedly driving an expensive BMW at the time of the accident. "This is how these rich people in town have behaved," a police official told The Times of India. "After killing [six] persons they tried to hide the car and remove all evidence." Police discovered after his arrest that Nanda did not have a valid driver's license or proper registration.
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