Testimony of Katara’s mother spontaneous: Cops

The Delhi Police on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the testimony of Nitish Katara's mother, accusing Vikas and Vishal Yadav for the murder of her son in 2002, was “spontaneous” and could not be disbelieved.

The Delhi Police on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the testimony of Nitish Katara's mother, accusing Vikas and Vishal Yadav for the murder of her son in 2002, was “spontaneous” and could not be disbelieved.

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“The statement, implicating the accused in the FIR, was spontaneous, immediate and proximate to the incident and hence cannot be disbelieved,” special public prosecutor Dayan Krishnan told a bench of justices Gita Mittal and JR Midha.

Advancing final arguments, the prosecutor said Neelam Katara' statements, given to police and later made during the trial, were “self explanatory”.

He said that the defence counsel also did not cross-examine her on her assertion that Vikas and Vishal were averse to the relationship between the victim and their sister Bharti Yadav.

Krishnan also said the victim had told his mother that he was in a “relationship” with Bharti and was planning to marry her and the girl's father, who was against it, may give his approval later.

Sumeet Verma, counsel for Vikas, however opposed the plea saying “as per the Evidence Act, the statement that the victim told something to his mother, cannot be held as credible evidence as it is hearsay and not direct evidence”.

Vikas and Vishal took away Nitish from a marriage party at Ghaziabad on the intervening night of February 16 and 17, 2002 and later killed him with the help of third accused Sukhdev Pehalwan.

Yadavs and Pehalwan are serving a life term in the case.