Katara murder case: Day-to-day hearing ordered

A Delhi court on Tuesday ordered day-to-day hearing from April 17 in the Nitish Katara murder case in which the son of UP politician D P Yadav is the main accused.

The Delhi high court had in January directed that the trial be concluded by May 31.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur also summoned for April 9 three witnesses -- Ghaziabad cop Anil Samania and two nodal officers from the state-owned telecom major BSNL, to record their statements.

The BSNL officers have been summoned to establish that two landline phone numbers were installed at  D P Yadav's residence which the two witnesses, his daughters Bharti and Bhavna had denied in their testimony.

The prosecution alleges that these were the numbers from which calls were made to victim's mother Neelam Katara and brother Nitin from February 17 to 19, 2002.

Bhavna had admitted that she might have called Nitish's brother Nitin at about 10.35 pm on February 18, 2002, and received a call from him the next day and that the mobile phone by which the calls were made to the mother of the deceased on the day of the incident belonged to her.

Vikas and Vishal Yadav, son and nephew of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, are accused of kidnapping and killing Nitish as they did not like his relationship with their sister Bharti.

Katara, son of an IAS officer, was murdered on the night intervening February 16-17, 2002, in Ghaziabad, near Delhi, where he had gone to attend the marriage of their common friend Shivani Gaur.