Katara case: Delay in recording witness' statement not 'fatal'

The police today told the Delhi High Court that the alleged delay of over a month in recording the statement of a key witness in the Nitish Katara murder case did not make it "unbelievable" and "suspect."

"The alleged delay in recording statement of prosecution witness (Ajay Katara), ipso facto, does not make the statement unbelievable and suspect and it cannot be held as fatal to the case of prosecution," the special prosecutor told a bench of justices Gita Mittal and JR Midha.

Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan was replying to the contentions of accused Vikas and Vishal Yadav that witness Ajay Katara was "planted" as a witness by the police and cannot be believed as his statement was recorded on March 18, 2002 over a month after Nitish was killed.

The trial court, in its judgement, had relied on Ajay Katara's testimony that he had last seen the victim, Nitish Katara, alive in the company of Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev Pehalwan in a Tata Safari car on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002 near Hapur Chungi here.

Citing an apex court judgment, Krishnan said, "There was no delay at all in recording Katara's statement. He went twice to the police station to record his statement, but could not do so as investigating officer (IO) Anil Samania was not there. His statement was recorded on March 18 when he met the IO."

"A witness, who comes forward to help police in the time when probe suffers because of apathy of persons witnessing such crimes, should not be disbelieved on technical grounds and it is the duty of the courts to separate chaff from the grains," the prosecutor said.

Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev Pehalwan are serving life term for abducting and killing Katara on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002.

During the hearing, Sumeet Verma, counsel for Vikas, alleged that Ajay Katara was planted as witness by the police.

"This man (Ajay) is born in the case on March 18, 2002 and as per the charge sheet, he was not the witness who last saw the victim with the accused," Verma said and referred to the trial court records pertaining to the cross-examination of the IO.

The ongoing final arguments in the case remained inconclusive and would resume on September 20.

The prosecution had earlier said that the statement of victim's mother Neelam Katara can be treated as a "credible" evidence to nail the accused as it imputes motive to them for committing the offence.

Vikas and Vishal were convicted by the trial court in 2008 for abducting and murdering Nitish Katara, son of an IAS officer.

The duo along with their accomplice Pehlwan, who absconded for some time but was arrested in 2005 and was tried separately, were sentenced to life term by the trial court.