Bharti appears in court, deposition adjourned till tomorrow

New Delhi, Nov 29 (UNI) Bharti Yadav, key witness in the sensational Nitish Katara murder case, today appeared before a local court for the first time since the crime took place in 2002.

Bharti's deposition before Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur, held in-camera, lasted nearly three hours before the hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.

Barred from attending the proceedings, mediapersons were unable to know the contents of today's deposition.

Neelam Katara, the complainant and mother of the deceased, who was present in the court premises was also asked by the court not to speak to the press.

A three-tier security cover had been provided to Bharti who arrived at the Patiala House Courts at about 0800 hrs to avoid media glare. She was accompanied by her lawyer Subhash Chandra Bhuttan, her father and former parliamentarian D P Yadav.

Police said the security cover was part of the directive to provide a 'secure environment' to Bharti to depose before the court without fear.

Meanwhile, Bharti's lawyer S C Bhuttan threatened to take certain news channels to court for ''biased reporting''.

Bharti, who arrived in Delhi on November 25, had come to India at the government expense to give testimony in the case at the Patiala House Courts here.

Nitish Katara, a 'close friend' of Bharti, was kidnapped and murdered on the night of February 16-17, 2002, in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where he had gone to attend a marriage.

Bharti's brother Vikas and cousin Vishal are prime suspects in the murder as they allegedly objected to her relationship with Nitish.

She had left the country after the murder, supposedly to pursue studies in London.

As she did not appear before the court since then, despite repeated summons and bailable and non-bailable warrants, her passport had been revoked by the Ministry of External Affairs earlier this year.

Special travel documents had been arranged for Bharti to come to India.

UNI TEAM MSJ AT BD1612