Nitish Katara murder case adjourned till May 24

New Delhi, May 22 (UNI) A city court today heard arguments on an application for summoning of witnesses, including a press reporter, in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.

On May 12, counsel for Vikas Yadav, the son of former MP D P Yadav, had moved an application under section 311 of CrPC before Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur pleading for summoning witnesses, including a press reporter, to ascertain contents of a CD for arriving at a just decision in the case.

He had also attached a newspaper report on this CD showing Ajay Katara purportedly admitting that he was planted in the case.

The prosecution argued that the case ought to be decided on the basis of evidence recorded during trial and not on the basis of evidence created through media.

It further argued the accused had not even requested to recall Ajay Katara for re-examination in the court, which itself is sufficient to prove that CD in question is false and fabricated.

After hearing the arguments of prosecution and defence, the court adjourned the matter for pronouncing its order on May 24.

Nitish Katara was a 24-year-old business executive in Delhi, who was murdered in the early hours of February 17, 2002.

The son of an IAS officer in the Ministry of Shipping, Nitish had graduated from the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.

There, he had fallen in love with his classmate, Bharti Yadav, who came from a criminal-politician family.

It is widely believed that he was murdered by Bharti's brother Vikas Yadav, because the family did not approve their relationship.

Bharti Yadav is the daughter of D P Yadav, the 'unrivalled don of western Uttar Pradesh'. Before entering politics, Yadav had racked up nine murder charges, and was behind a spurious liquor sale which killed 350 people in the early 1990s UNI XC ATI RP US1910