Nitish Katara case: Quantum of sentence on May 30

New Delhi, May 30: A Patiala House court will today pronounce the quantum of sentence to Vikas Yadav, the son of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, and his cousin Vishal Yadav, who were convicted in connection with the Nitish Katara murder case. The quantum of sentence may range from life term to death penalty. Vikas and Vishal had allegedly abducted Katara, the son of an IAS officer, from a marriage party in Ghaziabad on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002. The victim's body was later recovered from a village in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr District.

According to the prosecution, Katara, a business executive, was killed by the two accused as they did not approve of their sister Bharti Yadav's growing proximity with him. Earlier, the prosecution had produced evidence of Ajay Katara having seen the accused taking Nitish to their car on the fateful night near Hapur Chungi in Ghaziabad.

The accused contended that the chain of events in the case remained incomplete as none of the prosecution witnesses had either supported the abduction or identified the main accused. Ajay Katara's testimony was also challenged on the premise that the police recorded his statement over 20 days after the crime.

ANI