Nitish Katara murder: Yadavs get life term

New Delhi, May 30: Delhi court awarded life sentence to Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav in sensational Nitish Katara murder case. Court also imposed a fine of Rs one Lakh on the Yadavs. Court convicted the Yadavs, the son and nephew of former MP D P Yadav, in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur convicted the accused under sections 302 and 364 of IPC. The duo had killed Nitish Katara, a 24-year-old business executive in Delhi, 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.

Nitish was murdered by Bharti's brother Vikas Yadav, because the family did not approve their relationship. Bharti 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.

Since 1989, he has served several terms as minister in the state government with Mulayam Singh Yadav. In 2004, he became a member of the Parliament under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but such was the ensuing scandal that the party threw him out within days.

Nitish Katara Murder: Chronology of Events

February 16-17, 2002: Nitish Katara goes missing after attending the wedding of classmate Shivani Gaur in Ghaziabad where both Vikas and Vishal Yadav were present with their sister Bharti.

February 20: Nitish's burnt body discovered near Hapur crossing in Bulandshahr. Vikas and Vishal are immediate suspects. Bharti leaves for UK.

March 11: Tata Safari allegedly used in the murder recovered from G T Road, Karnal.

March 31: UP Police files a four-page chargesheet.

April 23: Vikas and Vishal Yadav arrested from MP.

August 23: SC directs transfer of the Nitish Katara murder case from a Ghaziabad sessions court to a competent court of the same jurisdiction in Delhi after mother of victim Neelam Katara says she fears miscarriage of justice in Ghaziabad.

November 23: Charges framed against the accused.

April 7, 2003: First summons issued for Bharti by court requiring her presence for recording her statement. Separate trial started against third accused Sukhdev Pehalwan, who was arrested in 2005.

November 25, 2006: After three years of notices and summons, prime witness Bharti Yadav returns to India to depose before trial court after the court threatens to declare her a proclaimed offender.

December 2007: The prosecution wraps up its final arguments and claims Bharti's alleged proximity to Nitish is the cause for his murder by her brothers.

April 2, 2008: Trial court begins hearing the case on a day-to-day basis.

April 23: The trial in the Nitish Katara murder case comes to an end.

May 27: Court fixes May 28 for pronouncement of verdict.

May 28: Vikas and his cousin Vishal Yadav held guilty in the six-year-old Nitish Katara murder case. Sentencing will take place on May 30.

OneIndia News