A court here on Wednesday held Vikas Yadav, son of the Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav, and his cousin Vishal Yadav guilty of kidnap, killing and destruction of evidence in the six-year-old, high profile Nitish Katara murder case.
Following the verdict, Vishal, who was out on bail, was taken into custody and the two accused were whisked out of the packed Patiala House courtroom by the police. The sentences will be pronounced on Friday.
Additional sessions judge Ravinder Kaur pronounced the verdict after counsel informed the court that there was no stay by the Delhi High Court.
According to the prosecution, Nitish was kidnapped on the night of February 16-17, 2002 by Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev Pehalwan, who is facing trial separately. The prime accused Vikas got rid of Nitish as he was opposed to his proximity to his sister Bharti Yadav.
Earlier, even as the trial court fixed Wednesday for pronouncing the verdict, defence moved a plea in the High Court on Tuesday seeking to restrain it from doing so. The High Court also listed the matter for Wednesday.
Around 10.15 a.m. on Wednesday, when the accused were summoned to the dock, defence counsel told judge Ravinder Kaur that the plea of the accused was scheduled to come up in the High Court shortly. However, when the court learnt that the High Court had not granted any stay, it went ahead with the verdict. The High Court later dismissed the plea, saying it had become infructuous.
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