Trial court seeks more time to conclude Nitish Katara case

New Delhi, July 03: The sessions court hearing the Nitish Katara murder case has approached the Delhi High Court seeking extention of the timeframe for completion of trial after it failed to meet the deadline of May 31.

The High Court on February one had instructed the trial court to complete the entire proceedings of the case within four months.

With recording of evidence of defence witnesses still at the initial stage, Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur filed an application before the high court seeking more time to conclude the trial of the case.

Justice B N Chaturvedi before whom the matter was listed, posted the hearing for July 26, the day the bail application of main accused Vikas Yaadav will be taken for adjudication. The High Court on February 1, while refusing to grant bail to Vikas, son of controversial Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, had observed that the trial was at fag end and "equities can be balanced by directing the trial court to dispose of the matter within a stipulated time frame".

Neelam Katara, the mother of the victim, said there has been delay in the recording of evidence after the deposition of key witness Bharti Yadav, as the proceedings have been adjourned regularly, primarily on the medical ground raised by some other witnesses including the elder sister of the accused.

Chase scare for Ajay Katara

NEW DELHI: Ajay Katara, a key witness in the Nitish Katara murder case, was on Friday evening allegedly chased by some persons in two cars in Meerut's Kharkhoda police station area. Katara has filed a report of criminal intimidation against the car occupants, whom he claimed to have identified as Virendra Lor and Dinesh Gurjar of Bulandshahr district.

Katara claims former MP DP Yadav, whose son and nephew are the main accused in the Nitish Katara case, has been pressuring his in-laws to force him to withdraw from the case. Meerut senior superintendent of police Vijay Prakash told Times City: "Katara has alleged in a report, filed at the Kharkhoda police station, that the men in the two cars overtook his Indica car but when they saw the two personal security officers given to him on court orders, they went away." Prakash said: "Initial investigations revealed that they may have followed him but did not overtake or stop his car. But, we are still investigating the case."

Meerut range deputy inspector general of police Prashant Kumar said there seems to be some marital discord between Ajay Katara and his wife. "They had separately come to meet me about their marital problems. The car chase incident allegedly took place some time after that. We are investigating the whole matter and are also looking into the possibility if the incident was a fallout of the marital discord."

Turning up in the Patiala House court complex on Saturday Katara, the last scene witness in the case, submitted a copy of the FIR and his complaint in the court of additional sessions judge Ravinder Kaur. The FIR names Dinesh Singh Gurjjar and one Virendra who followed Katara near Meerut and allegedly tried to attack him.

Informing the court that the two personal security officers who were appointed on court orders were instrumental in saving his life, Katara has sought directions to the police to take action against the culprit. Chief Prosecutor Patiala House courts B S Joon said that in his complaint, Katara has also brought to the attention of the judge previous incidents when he was allegedly harassed, attacked or followed by Yadav's henchmen.

According to the prosecution, Ajay Katara is an extremely crucial witness because he was the one who last saw Nitish alive before he was allegedly murdered by the accused.

Meanwhile, Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish who was allegedly abducted and burnt alive by DP Yadav's son, Vikas Yadav, denied reports that Ajay Katara is Nitish's brother. "He is not related to us in any way. And, I have only one surviving son, Nitin Katara," she said.

Nitish Katara's murder - election issue at Bisauli

A piquant situation is unfolding at Bisauli seat of Budaun where the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal (RPD) candidate Urmilesh Yadav is contesting Vidhan Sabha election.Urmilesh Yadav happens to be the mother of Vikas Yadav-the prime accused in the Nitish Katara murder case.

If reports emanating from Bisauli were to be believed Urmilesh Yadav is making attempts to strike an emotional chord with the electorate going to voters as a harassed mother who wants to save her son-Vikas Yadav.“Vikas Yadav Ka Arman, Unki Maa Ka Karo Samman” (Vikas Yadav aspires to get respect and honour to her mother) is the new slogan that has been coined to garner votes for Urmilesh Yadav.

So far Urmilesh Yadav has been able to put across her point well with the voters and she is being considered as a frontrunner for the seat.A resident of Bisauli talking to this correspondent on telephone said he had come across advertisement of Urmilesh Yadav in the local newspapers seeking votes in the name of Vikas Yadav.

“Often she gets emotional and bursts into tears while referring name of her son to voters,” he said adding that the Nitish Katara’s murder this is becoming a big election issue on this Vidhan Sabha seat.There are 10 candidates in fray from Bisauli seat.

Others in the fray include the Samajwadi Party candidate Yogendra Kumar Garg alias Kunnu Babu who is seeking re-election from the seat. The Congress has fielded Shakuntala Moriya while BSP has fielded Lokendra Sharma. The BJP has made Prem Swaroop Pathak its candidate from the seat.

Significantly Urmilesh’ husband DP Yadav and the RPD chief is also a candidate from the Sahaswan Vidhan Sabha seat. Besides Bisauli and Sahaswan another seat of the Budaun –Gunnaur is already in focus as Chief Minister is contesting election from there.

Katara murder: Warrant for BSNL officer

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has issued arrest warrants against a BSNL officer for failing to appear as a witness in the Nitish Katara murder case in which Vikas Yadav, son of U P Politician D P Yadav, is the main accused.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur issued the bailable warrant against the Deputy General Manager (Operations) Ghaziabad of BSNL executable on or before April 16. The court also posted the matter to the next date of hearing for the testimony of the UP Police Sub-Inspector Anil Samania, who had investigated the case in Ghaziabad.

The court had on April 3 summoned for April 9 three witnesses – Ghaziabad police personnel Anil Samania and two nodal officers from the state-owned telecom major BSNL – to record their statements. The BSNL officers were summoned to establish two landline phone numbers which were installed at D P Yadav's residence which the two witnesses, his daughters Bharti and Bhavna had denied in their testimony.

The prosecution alleges that these were the numbers from which calls were made to victim's mother Neelam Katara and brother Nitin from February 17 to 19, 2002.

Vikas and Vishal Yadav, son and nephew of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, are accused of kidnapping and killing Nitish as they did not like his relationship with their sister Bharti.

Katara, son of an IAS officer, was murdered on the night intervening February 16-17, 2002 in Ghaziabad, where he had gone to attend the marriage of their common friend Shivani Gaur.

Katara murder case: Day-to-day hearing ordered

April 03, 2007 20:35 IST

A Delhi court on Tuesday ordered day-to-day hearing from April 17 in the Nitish Katara murder case in which the son of UP politician D P Yadav is the main accused.

The Delhi high court had in January directed that the trial be concluded by May 31.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur also summoned for April 9 three witnesses -- Ghaziabad cop Anil Samania and two nodal officers from the state-owned telecom major BSNL, to record their statements.

The BSNL officers have been summoned to establish that two landline phone numbers were installed at D P Yadav's residence which the two witnesses, his daughters Bharti and Bhavna had denied in their testimony.

The prosecution alleges that these were the numbers from which calls were made to victim's mother Neelam Katara and brother Nitin from February 17 to 19, 2002.

Bhavna had admitted that she might have called Nitish's brother Nitin at about 10.35 pm on February 18, 2002, and received a call from him the next day and that the mobile phone by which the calls were made to the mother of the deceased on the day of the incident belonged to her.

Vikas and Vishal Yadav, son and nephew of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, are accused of kidnapping and killing Nitish as they did not like his relationship with their sister Bharti.
Katara, son of an IAS officer, was murdered on the night intervening February 16-17, 2002, in Ghaziabad, near Delhi, where he had gone to attend the marriage of their common friend Shivani Gaur.

Katara case: Bhavna Yadav testifies in court

Press Trust of India
Friday, March 9, 2007 (New Delhi):

Bhavna Yadav, sister of Bharti Yadav, a key witness in Nitish Katara murder case, on Friday admitted before a Delhi court that the mobile phone by which the calls were made to the deceased's mother belonged to her.

The prosecution has alleged that Bharti, who had intimate relationship with the victim, had called his mother expressing concern about his whereabouts.

Bhavna, however, did not specify the persons who used her mobile on the date of the incident.

Vikas and Vishal Yadav, son and nephew of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, are accused of kidnapping and killing Katara as they did not like his relationship with their sister.

Old friend

Bhavna, who deposed after failing to appear on three dates, accepted before Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur that Katara had even joined them on her birthday in Mumbai.

Nitish, along with Bharti, had accompanied her to Mumbai on August 24, 2000 to celebrate her birthday, Bhavna said.

She further said that her husband Deepak Yadav had no objection to his presence during the celebration.

Bhavna's testimony on the issue of mobile phone is crucial as Nitish's mother has said that Bharti had called her expressing concern about the well being of Nitish.

Bharti was worried as she had seen him in the company of her brother and cousin when they were attending a marriage ceremony.

Katara was murdered on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002 in Ghaziabad where he had gone to attend a marriage party of their common friend.

SC issues notice to Delhi police on Vikas Yadav petition

Satya Prakash
The Hindustan Times
New Delhi,
March 7, 2007

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Delhi Police on a petition filed by former Rajya Sabha MP DP Yadav’s son Vikas Yadav, who wanted stay of his conviction in the Jessica Lall murder case to contest the ensuing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

A Bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice RV Raveendran asked the Delhi Police to respsond to his petition by March 19, the next date of hearing after his counsel submitted that the filing of nomination papers was scheduled to commence on March 23.

Taking a cue from the stay of conviction of Navjot Singh Sidhu that enabled him to contest Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll, Vikas, sentenced to four-year imprisonment in the Jessica Lall murder case has moved the apex court for a similar relief.

Vikas said the December 2006 Delhi High Court order sentencing him to four-year imprisonment for criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence has resulted into his disqualification under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act to contest elections and the court could cure the disqualification by staying the conviction.

However, the Bench clarified that the stay of conviction could be granted only in rarest of rare cases.

The High Court had sentenced prime accused Manu Sharma to life imprisonment while Vikas and Tony Gill got a jail term of four years each in the case.

Claiming that he was likely to be acquitted of the charges under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, Vikas claimed that “irreparable” injury would be caused to him if the conviction and sentence were not stayed. He is also facing trial in the Nitish Katara murder case along with his cousin Vishal Yadav.

His counsel submitted that he had contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections earlier too and had lost by a narrow margin of 400 votes only.Citing the Sidhu judgment, he submitted that the apex court was empowered to stay the sentence as well as the order of conviction.

He claimed that he had not been charged with any offence that cast aspersions on his public dealings or morality. Vikas said he was "desirous of remaining in public life and wants to contest the election and face the electorate".

"The appellant has also undergone the sentence that itself mandates reasonable and exceptional circumstances for the order of conviction to be stayed," he submitted.

In an unprecedented order, a Bench of Justice G P Mathur and Justice R V Raveendran had on January 23 stayed the conviction of cricketer-turned-BJP politician Navjot Singh Sidhu in a road rage death case paving his way for contesting the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-election necessitated by his resignation.