SC refuses to entertain bail plea of Nitish Katara convict

The Supreme Court rejected Vikas Yadav's bail plea related to the Nitish Katara murder case, leading him to withdraw it after 23 years in custody.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain any interim bail petition by Vikas Yadav — murder convict in Nitish Katara murder case — following which he withdrew the plea from the apex court.

(File photo)

Yadav had approached the court against an order passed by the Delhi High Court on September 9 denying him any extension of interim bail. He surrendered the same day and approached the top court seeking bail for his marriage and to arrange the ₹54 lakh fine imposed on him as part of the sentence in the 2002 Katara murder case.

“It will be a never ending process if your plea is accepted. Now it is marriage, then you will have children, it will go on and on,” said the bench of justices MM Sundresh and SC Sharma.

Senior advocate Guru Krishnakumar, appearing for Yadav, told the court that the high court will hear the matter next on December 2. Till then, he said, Yadav needs to arrange several things as he has been in custody for more than 23 years. “I do not have an Aadhaar card. I have to organise all my documents. And I need to mobilise funds for paying the fine of ₹54 lakh as part of the punishment imposed on me,” Yadav said.

As the bench was not inclined, Krishnakumar agreed to withdraw the petition.

Yadav was granted interim bail by the top court on April 24 on account of his mother’s illness. The bail was extended on repeated occasions and finally ended on September 9, the day he surrendered.

However, on September 8 the top court refused to grant him further extension and directed him to approach the high court. Pursuant to this, the HC rejected his request on the ground that it does not have the power to grant interim bail in a case where the top court has upheld his conviction in 2016. It even directed police to verify his claim of getting married as Katara’s mother Nilam informed the high court that Yadav had already been married.

Yadav, son of former Parliamentarian DP Yadav, is undergoing a 25-year fixed sentence without remission for the 2002 murder of Nitish Katara who was involved in a relationship with Yadav’s sister Bharti. He was granted interim bail by the top court in April and had since been getting an extension on account of his mother’s ill health.

Recently, the Supreme Court had released Sukhdev Yadav — one of the convicts in the Katara murder — after he completed his 20 years sentence without remission. Besides Vikas Yadav, the other convicts are his cousin Vishal and Sukhdev Yadav.