Nitish Katara murder case: SC issues notice to CBI, Delhi govt on plea seeking parole to convict Vikas Yadav

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Delhi government on a plea seeking four-week parole to convict Vikas Yadav in connection with the Nitish Katara murder case.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Vikas submitted that he had been in custody for 17 years and he can be granted four-week parole by the court.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said they would take a decision on the same only after considering CBI’s view.

The plea had been filed in the court by Yadav, who has claimed that the 25 years jail sentence awarded to him is “wrong and constitutionally incorrect”.

Yadav had murdered Katara, an Indian business executive, on February 17, 2002, as he was against the 25-year-old businessman’s friendship with his sister Bharti Yadav.

On May 30, 2008, a trial court had found Vikas and his cousin Vishal guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Two months later, a third accused Sukhdev Pehalwan was also sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court.

However, in 2015, Delhi High Court had upheld the trial court’s verdict of life terms for the Yadav brothers and Pehalwan and awarded a jail term of 25 years without remission to the brothers and 20 years’ imprisonment without remission to Pehalwan.

In 2016, the apex court too agreed to the quantum of punishment awarded to the accused by the Delhi High Court.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]