For six years Neelam Katara made every possible effort to keep her son Nitish’s murder alive in public memory.
Sentencing on May 30 n Prosecution says it will demand death penalty
NEW DELHI: For six years Neelam Katara made every possible effort to keep her son Nitish’s murder alive in public memory. On Wednesday, Katara said she finally got justice with a Delhi court holding Vikas Yadav — son of controversial Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav — and his cousin Vishal guilty of murder, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.
The court will announce the quantum of punishment on May 30. Special public prosecutor BS Joon said he would demand the death penalty for the accused.
Vikas, 35, and Vishal, a year younger, had kidnapped Nitish, son of a senior IAS officer, on the night of February 16, 2002, from a marriage party in Ghaziabad and killed him. The body was found in a village in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. Vikas opposed his sister Bharti Yadav’s intimacy with Nitish, a management executive and her classmate.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur convicted Vikas and Vishal, disregarding their plea that an application seeking stay on the pronouncement of judgment was to come up for hearing before the Delhi high court.
“I hold Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC,” the judge said.
The convicts had on Tuesday moved the High Court for recalling witnesses, including Ajay Katara, whose testimony on the ‘last-seen evidence’ was crucial for the prosecution case. A sting operation had purportedly shown collusion between him and Neelam Katara.
The high court rejected their application as the lower court had gone ahead and announced the judgment.
After the judgment, Neelam Katara said, “My faith in the judiciary has been strengthened with the verdict. Today’s judgment will be a big deterrent to those who decide to take murder as a pastime.”
She said the victory at the local court was just the first step and “we will fight the case even in the Supreme Court”.
Katara’s younger son Nitin said: “This victory is for Nitish and finally the efforts of my mother have brought results. She has been going through the courtrooms for the past six years and I am happy that the court has finally found the truth even though several attempts were made to delay the proceedings.”
Injustice, cry Yadavs
Vikas, sporting a blue pair of jeans and a white shirt, tried to put up a brave front on hearing the verdict even as his family claimed that the verdict had been delivered under pressure from some quarters.
A distraught DP Yadav said: “Injustice has been done to our innocent children...we will approach the High Court to get justice.”
Vikas’ father alleged key witness Ajay Katara was “planted” by the prosecution. “Ajay got a cinema hall in Panipat, a gas agency in Gurgaon in the deal. We want the courts to take the sting operation into account,” he said.
Alleging that the case was politically motivated, Yadav said: “This is a one-sided judgment and no one has cared to listen to our version of the story. We have been branded as bad people and even the media published negative news about us.”
Yadavs counsel GK Bharti said, “It seems that the trial court has given the verdict under some pressure from some quarter.”
He added they would appeal in the higher court as the case was based on circumstantial evidence.
How events unfolded
Feb 16-17, 2002: Nitish Katara abducted from a marriage party in Ghaziabad
Feb 20, 2002: His body found in Bulandshahr. Bharti Yadav leaves for Britain
March 11, 2002: The Tata Safari allegedly used in the murder recovered from Karnal
March 31, 2002: UP police file a four-page chargesheet
April 23, 2002: Vikas and Vishal arrested from MP
Aug 23, 2002: SC transfers the case from UP to Delhi.
Nov 23, 2002: Charges framed against Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev
April 7, 2003: A separate trial starts against Sukhdev Pahalwan, who was arrested in 2005
March 2004: All witnesses, except Bharti Yadav, depose in court
November 2005: Bharti Yadav returns to India
May 2006: Bharti’s passport is revoked.
Nov 25, 2006: Bharti deposes in court after three years of notices and summons
December 2007: The prosecution wraps up its final arguments
April 2, 2008: Trial court begins hearing the case on a day-to-day basis
April 23, 2008: Trial ends
May 27, 2008: Court fixes date for pronouncing verdict
May 28, 2008: Court holds Vikas and Vishal guilty of murder
May 30, 2008: Quantum of sentence to be pronounced
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