Nitish Katara case: AAP govt appoints Gopal Subramanium, Dayan Krishnan to contest convict Vikas Yadav's appeal

AAP government appointed senior lawyers Gopal Subramanium and Dayan Krishnan on Friday to contest the appeal of Nitish Katara murder case convicts Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal in Supreme Court.

The Arvind Kejriwal government's move comes after Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish Katara, requested the Delhi government to appoint these two senior lawyers to contest the appeal of convicts who have been sentenced to 25 years in jail without any remission by the Delhi High Court.

"On the request of Neelam Katara, Home Department has appointed senior lawyers Gopal Subramanium and Dayan Krishnan to contest the appeal of Vikas Yadav and Vishal against their imprisonment in the Supreme Court," said a senior government official. The official said that both lawyers will argue in the apex court against the appeal of Vikas and Vishal.

On February 6 this year, Delhi High Court had enhanced the life imprisonment of Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal to 25 years in jail without any remission and an additional five years for destruction of evidence in the honour killing of Nitish Katara in 2002. The court had held that the murder of Katara, who was in love with Vikas' sister, was an "honour killing" which was done in a very "carefully planned and premeditated" manner with "extreme vengeance".

Vikas and Vishal have now moved to the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court's verdict.