SC refuses to extend Vikas Yadav’s interim bail in Nitish Katara murder case

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ordered the release of co-convict Sukhdev Yadav after he completed his fixed 20-year sentence

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the bail granted to Vikas Yadav, serving a 25-year fixed sentence in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case, directing him to approach the Delhi High Court for an extension of his interim bail that ends on Tuesday.

Besides Vikas Yadav, the other convicts are his cousin Vishal and Sukhdev Yadav. (Shutterstock)

A bench of justices MM Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma declined to entertain his appeal against the Delhi High Court’s August 22 order refusing an extension. “You go to the high court,” the bench told senior advocate S Gurukrishna Kumar, appearing for Yadav. Kumar urged for a four-day extension to allow time to file the fresh plea, but the request was turned down.

The court also heard submissions from Nilam Katara’s lawyer, Vrinda Bhandari, who opposed the plea. “He is out on interim bail since April 24. He should not be given special treatment. Let him surrender and apply for furlough like any other convict,” she said. When Yadav’s counsel objected, the bench intervened: “Don’t crush her voice. She has a right to speak.”

Yadav’s counsel said that the top court has been extending the bail from time to time to enable him to spend time with his ailing mother. In the high court, he had sought extension of bail on the ground that he intends to get married in the first week of September. The bench said, “Your mother is still alive. But what about those mothers who are still waiting for their child to come back.”

Yadav, 54, son of former parliamentarian DP Yadav, has served over 23 years of his 25-year sentence. He was convicted for murdering Nitish Katara, who was in a relationship with his sister Bharti. He was granted interim bail by the top court in April and had since been getting an extension from the top court on account of his mother’s ill health.

Since then, his bail has been extended multiple times. In his application before the Delhi High Court, Yadav also cited plans to marry in early September and the need to arrange ₹54 lakh in fine imposed on him by the trial court in May 2008.

On July 29, a top court bench led by justice Sundresh allowed him to approach the high court to challenge the remission bar imposed by the top court, and extended his interim bail until the high court examined the matter. However, the high court on August 22 declined to extend his bail, observing that it could not interfere since the Supreme Court itself had imposed the no-remission condition while upholding his conviction and sentence in October 2016. His review petition against the sentence had also been dismissed in August 2017.

When Yadav appealed, another bench of justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih on August 26 said it broadly agreed with the high court’s reasoning but referred the case to the Chief Justice of India for listing before the bench that had passed the July 29 order. His bail was extended by a week. On September 1, Chief Justice Bhushan R Gavai further extended the interim bail by another week.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ordered the release of co-convict Sukhdev Yadav after he completed his fixed 20-year sentence. Besides Vikas Yadav, the other convicts are his cousin Vishal and Sukhdev Yadav.