Nitish Katara

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Nitish Katara was an executive in Delhi when he was murdered in the early hours of February 17, 2002. The son of an IAS officer in the Ministry of Shipping, he had recently graduated from the Institute of Management and Technology, Ghaziabad, where he had fallen in love with his classmate, Bharati Yadav. It is widely believed that he was murdered by Bharati's brother Vikas Yadav.

Bharti Yadav is the daughter of DP Yadav, well-known criminal leader in Western Uttar Pradesh who has also served as a member of the Indian Parliament. The family apparently did not approve of the alliance, and Nitish was threatened several times. He was finally kidnapped and battered to death with a hammer before his body was dumped and burned.

1 Initial Evidence and Arrest
2 Media Pressure
3 Trial
- 3.1 Witness turns hostile
  - 3.1.1 Bharti Yadav Subpoenaed for her Testimony
  - 3.1.2 Co-Accused in Jessica Lall Murder
4 References

[edit] Initial Evidence and Arrest

Nitish was last seen publicly at a friend's wedding in Ghaziabad where he had danced with Bharti Yadav. Bharti told police at the time:

"My friendship with Nitish Katara became a love affair... I began to love Nitish from the bottom of my heart... Nitish told his mother that he wanted to marry me. After the wedding ceremony I and Nitish Katara danced. At around 1.30am, I came to know that Vikas and Vishal Yadav had asked Nitish to come out with them. I feared for Nitish's life. I searched... everywhere but didn't find them."

Bharti then phoned Neelam Katara, Nitish's mother, saying that she feared that something bad might happen.

Indeed, Nitish was never seen alive again.

Based on initial statements by Bharti Yadav and others, warrants were issued for Bharti's brother Vikas Yadav, cousin Vishal Yadav. Subsequently, a third person Sukhdev Palwan, was also arrested. At the time, Vikas Yadav was on bail in the Jessica Lal murder case, and was also a candidate in elections in Uttar Pradesh, under his father's party.

Initially, Vikas and Vishal went underground, but they were arrested a few days later. Vikas and Sukhdev are in judicial custody in Tihar Jail and the trial is in progress at the Patiala House Court, Delhi.

Bharti Yadav, whose testimony is being sought in the trial, shifted to London for an extended period shortly after the murder.

[edit] Media Pressure

In view of the acquittals of high profile offenders such as Sanjeev Nanda and Vikas' friend Manu Sharma, media pressure has been mounting in the case.

[edit] Vikas Yadav Confession to Police

The NDTV news channel managed to obtain a copy of a confessional statement from Vikas Yadav; it was aired in May 2006: ^[1]

"On February 16, 2002, my family was invited to a wedding party in Ghaziabad. My sisters Bhavna and Bharti, my mother, my cousin brother Vishal and I were there. So was Nitish Katara. Nitish and my sister, Bharti, were in love and people knew about this.

The affair was damaging my family's reputation. I never approved of their relationship. When I saw Nitish at the party, Vishal and I decided this was a great opportunity to fix things, a chance we would not get again. After the baraat ceremony, Vishal and I had our dinner; we saw Nitish eating with his friends.

I told Vishal to take Nitish outside. It was midnight. Vishal and I made Nitish sit in the front seat of our Tata Safari. Vishal and Sukhdev Pehelwan were sitting at the back. I was driving. We reached Balwant Rai Mehta Lane at around 1.30 am, and stopped.

We made Nitish move to the back seat , now Vishal and Pehlwan held him tight. I drove again and stopped somewhere between Bulandsher and Khurja.

Using all my strength, I hit Nitish's head with a hammer. He fainted and after a while he died. We drove one kilometre and then we threw his body onto the road.

Vishal removed Nitish's cell phone from his kurta pocket. He also took Nitish's wristwatch and hid both these in the bushes that were nearby. I took the hammer that I used to murder Nitish and we hid that in the bushes too.

Then we took the diesel from our car's tank, poured it on Nitish's body and we set it on fire. Then we drove to Delhi. I can help the police to find the hammer I used. I can take them to the spot where Nitish was murdered. I can also show you where my Tata Safari is in Alwar."

However this confession, which was made a week or so after the murder, was not formalized before a magistrate, and is therefore not admissible as evidence in court.

[edit] Second Confession

A second confession was also made in Madhya Pradesh, where he was arrested while on the run six days after the crime. ^[2]

Inspector Ashok Bidhoria, arrested Vikas and Vishal Yadav in Dabra, Madhya Pradesh, where they were spotted at a train station. The Yadavs lied about who they were and tried unsuccessfully to run away. Ten rounds of cartridges were also found on them, and the two were later arrested for carrying prohibited ammunition.

In his original statement to the court, the inspector said that in their disclosure statement made to him during the interrogation both the accused admitted kidnapping Nitish Katara from Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad. However, under cross-examination the inspector changed his stand saying the accused persons made no confessional statements in his presence.

Another police constable, Brij Mohan Mishra, who was at the Dabra police station where the Yadavs were brought after being arrested, said in court: "The accused persons themselves said that they had murdered Nitish Katara after kidnapping him. However, Ashok Bidhoria did not produce me before any magistrate to get my statement recorded,”

Inspector Ashok Bidhoria denies that he ignored standard procedure because his brother is a business associate of D P Yadav.

[edit] Disclosure statement

In another document leaked by the media^[1], the investigationg officer in the Katara case, J K Gangawar, writes:

"The accused persons led us to Khurja Shakarpur Road and they pointed out the place where Nitish's dead body was burnt. The accused, Vikas, recovered the hammer which he had used from the bushes, which were about seven steps away from the place pointed out by him of burning. He himself took out the hammer from among the bushes. The wrist watch was recovered by Vishal from the bushes about five steps away from the place where Vikas recovered the hammer. The accused pointed at a ditch and said 'see where the soil is black and wet. That is where we poured diesel on Nitish Katara's dead body. Then we set it on fire."

This disclosure statement which is also signed by the lawyer for Vishal and Vikas Yadav, is probably a more acceptable form of evidence compared to a police confession.

[edit] Trial

In August 2006, the Supreme Court, responding to an appeal from Nitish Katara's mother, shifted the trial from Ghaziabad to Delhi because the family wielded considerable influence in the area (DP Yadav is known as the "strong man of Western UP"). ^[3]

[edit] Witness turns hostile

One of the witnesses is Rohit Gaur, is the brother of Sheetal Gaur, whose wedding Nitish and Bharti had attended the night before. Rohit had initially stated that he had seen Vikas and Vishal taking Nitish in his car, but he denied having made such a statement in his testimony in court on September 26, 2006.

"It is incorrect to suggest that I informed the police that on the day of the marriage, around midnight, Vishal came near Nitish Katara and had a conversation with him and took him outside where Vikas Yadav was present and that both Vikas and Vishal took Nitish in their vehicle."

He also denied having stated that Bharti and Nitish were lovers.

Witnesses turning hostile is a common trajectory for high profile murder cases involving rich or powerful people in India; prominent accused who have been released after witnesses were widely believed to have been coerced or bribed include Manu Sharma and Sanjeev Nanda. Witnesses are subject to considerable threats, especially from powerful families with criminal records like the Yadavs; at the same time they are also susceptible to bribes.

In this case however, the victim also hails from an influential family. Also, the October 2006 verdict in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case is viewed as a positive signal that the intense media pressure is finally producing change.

[edit] Bharti Yadav Subpoenaed for her Testimony

At one point before the trial was shifted to Delhi, the Uttar Pradesh prosecution had sought to exclude the testimony of Bharti Yadav. Delhi Prosecution branch on September 29 2006 told Delhi High Court that "Bharti Yadav is material evidence and should not have been dropped." Counsel Mukta Gupta appearing for Delhi Government said the deposition of Bharti before the trial court was essential and she should not have been dropped, claiming that the request for dropping of Bharti as a key witness showed the "malafide intention of the Uttar Pradesh Prosecutor"

It is widely believed that Bharti Yadav's reluctance to testify is being orchestrated through the family pressure - clearly her testimony may go against her own brother. Lawyers on her behalf made thirty-nine (39) appeals that she be relieved ^[4]. Her final attempt, to provide testimony via video conferencing, was rejected by the Supreme Court of India in September 2006. Her passport was impounded by the Ministry for External Affairs in order to prevent further travel. In danger of being declared proclaimed offender, when she may be arrested and deported from London, Bharti has agreed to depose before the court on November 25, 2006.

[edit] Co-Accused in Jessica Lall Murder

Vikas Yadav is also one of the co-accused along with Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal case. The inspector in charge of the case, Surender Sharma, has pointed fingers at DP Yadav saying that he may have been behind the switching of bullets in that case.