Nitish Katara murder witness arrested

GHAZIABAD (Uttar Pradesh): Ajay Katara, the main witness in the 2002 murder of Delhi youth Nitish Katara, was on Friday arrested here on charges of kidnapping a property dealer, police said.

Police arrested Ajay Katara even though he claimed the property dealer, Dharmendra Yadav, was trying to kill him.

Superintendent of Police Vijay Bhushan said Ajay Katara kidnapped Dharmendra Yadav on Thursday night but he was rescued by a police patrolling party that heard his cry for help.

However, the patrolling party let both go free. Dharmendra Yadav then filed a complaint against Ajay Katara, leading to the latter's arrest. 

Ajay Katara said that he was being victimised as the police were helping Dharmendra Yadav under pressure from D.P. Yadav, a politician from Uttar Pradesh's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), whose son and nephew have been convicted in the Nitish Katara murder case.

Ajay Katara claimed that Dharmendra Yadav had fired at him at around 4.00 p.m. Thursday, following which he lodged a police complaint.

He added that he had also filed a case of attempt to murder against Dharmendra Yadav a few months ago and a non-bailable warrant was issued against the latter.

Ajay Katara's testimony was crucial in the conviction D.P. Yadav's son Vikas and nephew Vishal in the murder of Nitish Katara.

Nitish Katara, son of a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was kidnapped and murdered after he attended a wedding in Ghaziabad Feb 16, 2002. His half burnt body was found in a village in Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh.