The court sent a notice to the Delhi government and to Nitish Katara’s mother, Neelam Katara. (File)
New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked for a response from the PAA government to the parole appeal of Vishal Yadav, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of business executive Nitish Katara in 2002.
Judge VK Rao sent a notice to the Delhi government and to Katara’s mother, Neelam Katara, asking them to file their answers before the next hearing date, June 11.
The Delhi government was represented by its additional permanent council Rajesh Mahajan.
Yadav asked for an eight-week emergency parole on the grounds that he could be infected with COVID-19 or tuberculosis due to overcrowding and poor sanitation in the prison.
In April he made a similar plea, which was decided on May 2 by the High Court by asking the “competent authority”, who, under prison regulations, was the lieutenant governor, to treat the application as a representation and make a decision within 15 days. days.
On May 16, the competent authority rejected Yadav’s request for parole and, against this order, he moved the High Court.
The competent authority rejected the plea on the grounds that he had been sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment without any surrender. Yadav requested the cancellation of the May 16 order.
He argued that the number of coronavirus cases was increasing at a high rate and that there was a risk of infection for him inside the prison, especially since he was a tuberculosis patient (TB) in the past.
He also argued in his plea that because of his long TB infection, his immune system is weak and coupled with poor sanitation in prison, he is vulnerable to the coronavirus.
On October 3, 2016, the Supreme Court had granted a 25-year prison sentence without any remission benefit to Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal for their role in the sensational kidnapping and murder of Katara.
Another co-convict Sukhdev Pehalwan was also sentenced to 20 years in prison in this case.
Before that, the Delhi High Court, while confirming the life imprisonment granted to Vikas and Vishal Yadav by the court of first instance, had imposed a sentence of 30 years, without any remission, on both. He had given a sentence of 25 years in prison to the third convict Pehalwan.
All three were found guilty and sentenced for kidnapping Nitish Katara from a wedding party on the night of February 16-17, 2002, and then killing him for his alleged affair with Vikas’ sister Bharti Yadav.
Bharti Yadav is the daughter of politician DP Yadav from Uttar Pradesh who is in prison for another murder case.
Katara was murdered when Vishal and Vikas Yadav did not approve of his deal with Bharti because they belonged to different castes, the lower court said in its verdict.
