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New Delhi: Six years after the murder of Delhi boy Nitish Katara, a court on Wednesday held influential Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav's son Vikas Yadav and his nephew Vishal Yadav guilty.
The courtroom was packed as Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur announced her verdict in the high-profile case and held the Yadav brothers guilty of murder, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.
The quantum of sentence, which could range from life imprisonment to death penalty, will be pronounced tomorrow.
"I thank God and the media for helping me out in this long battle. This is a landmark judgement and has reposed my faith in the judicial system," Nitish's mother Neelam, who waged a relentless battle for justice against the powerful Yadav family, said after the verdict.
Special Public Prosecutor B.S. Joon said he would demand the death penalty for the accused.
Defence counsel G.K. Bharti said his clients would appeal the court's verdict since the case was based on circumstantial evidence.
Nitish Katara, son of a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was kidnapped and murdered after he attended a wedding in Ghaziabad on February 16, 2002. His body was later found in a village in Bulandhshahr, in Uttar Pradesh.
The Yadavs resented Nitish's alleged relationship with D.P. Yadav's daughter Bharati.
The defence had made several attempts to delay the judgement.
On Tuesday, the accused approached the Delhi High Court, appealing against the trial court order dismissing the application seeking a stay on the judgement and re-examination of key witness Ajay Katara - no relative of the Katara family - who saw the body in Bulandshahr.
A high court bench of Justices Manmohan Sarin and Manmohan passed the plea to a single-judge bench, to be heard early last morning. But the verdict came before that. Judge Kaur gave her ruling after asking Vishal's counsel whether he had been able to obtain a stay from the Delhi High Court. When told that the hearing was scheduled to take place anytime, the judge refused to stay the judgement and held the duo guilty.
The trial court had on Tuesday rejected the application from the Yadavs raising objections to the affidavit Ajay Katara filed on Saturday. Ajay had affirmed the authenticity of a sting operation carried out by a newspaper that had him saying he never saw Vikas and Vishal abducting Nitish.
Politician cries foul
Mafia-boss-turned-politician D.P. Yadav said injustice was done to his son Vikas and nephew Vishal, who were yesterday convicted of the murder of Nitish Katara in 2002.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur yesterday held the cousins guilty in the murder case. The sentence will be pronounced tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, D.P. Yadav said: "I was in my lawyer's chamber in the court when the verdict was announced. The court read out the verdict before our turn came. I had submitted a petition in the high court, and though the lower court was aware of it, the verdict was given."
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