New Delhi: The five-year jail term slapped on Sanjeev Nanda by a court here Friday was greeted with scepticism and a touch of indifference by the family of Peru Lal, one of the six people mowed down by an inebriated Nanda in his BMW car nine years ago.

"We are not satisfied with the quantum of punishment given to Sanjeev Nanda. He is a rich man and will be exonerated once the case comes up for hearing in the Delhi High Court," said Lal's youngest son Naveen Kumar, 15. He was five when his father, a policeman, was killed under the wheels of the BMW on Jan 10, 1999.

"Nanda will face no problems even if he languishes for some time in jail. He has money to buy all the comforts while in jail," Kumar told IANS in his small house in Madangir, south Delhi.

Nanda was convicted Tuesday under section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Kumar's mother, Phoola Devi, said resignedly. "After nine years, it doesn't matter whether Nanda gets five years or life imprisonment. I have lost my husband and he will never come back. What we want now is a job for my son and myself, so that we can spend our life without any more financial troubles," she said.

"No one came to meet me in the past nine years. The authorities had promised to give jobs to my son and myself, but nobody bothered to even speak to us," she said.

Kumar said his family has been struggling since the day his father was killed. "My mother sold vegetables to raise my brother, sister and me. There were days when we have slept on an empty stomach," Kumar said, wiping away the tears from his eyes.