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.

Vikas Yadav moves the SC for Sidhu-like relief

Satya Prakash
The Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 19, 2007

Taking a cue from the stay of conviction of Navjot Singh Sidhu that enabled him to contest Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll, Vikas Yadav sentenced to four-year imprisonment in the Jessica Lall murder case has moved the Supreme Court for a similar relief to fight the ensuing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Son of former Rajya Sabha MP DP Yadav, 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.

The High Court had sentenced prime accused Manu Sharma to life imprisonment while Vikas and two others 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, he claimed that “irreparable” injury would be caused to him if the conviction and sentence were not stayed.

Vikas said 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 and requested it to pass an ex-parte order in his favour.

Submitting that he had not been charged with any offence that casts 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.

Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had in December last year held Sidhu and co-convict Rupinder Singh Sandhu guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for the death of one Gurnam Singh in 1988 in Patiala and sentenced them to three-year imprisonment.

Family and friends remember Nitish Katara

Report: Anasuya Roy, NDTV
Photographs: Aditya Raj Kaul

Saturday, February 17, 2007 (New Delhi):

It has been five years since Nitish Katara, a young management graduate from Delhi, was murdered.

On Saturday, friends and family members gathered at the Katara residence to remember him.

Nitish Katara's case continues to drag in court, but the recent judgements in the Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattoo cases have given the family some hope.

Abhay Sopore, a close friend of Nitish Katara, played the santoor at the prayer meeting, as family and friends were joined by young campaigners, many of whom didn't even know Nitish personally.

Waiting for justice"Even if I didn't know Nitish, it does not matter. It is the cause," said Puja, a participant.

Among those assembled were Chaman Lal Mattoo, the father of murdered law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, and Sabrina Lall, the sister of murdered model Jessica Lall.

"We stand by them," said Mattoo.

There will be a sense of closure for the Katara family only when the case that has already dragged for five years ends.