Vishal Yadav seeks retrial in Nitish Katara murder case

New Delhi: In a sensational twist to the Nitish Katara murder of 2002 in which Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav were convicted and sentenced to life, the latter has sought a retrial of the case, claiming that he was not seen with Katara before the murder. Vishal Yadav's lawyer Ram Jethmalani told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that Katara was seen with Vikas Yadav, and not Vishal.

The court will continue the hearing after 2:15 PM. Vishal, undergoing life term along with cousin Vikas for killing MBA graduate Nitish Katara in 2002, had filed an application in the Delhi High Court for a retrial on Wednesday.

Appearing for Vishal before the bench of justices Gita Mittal and J R Midha, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani contended that the way the trial was conducted by the sessions court was not in accordance with the law and the accused persons deserved either "acquittal or retrial" of the case.

Vikas Yadav is former Lok Sabha MP DP Yadav\'s son and Vishal is his cousin. They had hired a killer to eliminate Nitish Katara.

"We are very much willing for the retrial," Jethmalani told the bench while commencing his final argument on the convict's appeal. The noted lawyer alleged that the prosecution as well as the trial court judge did not follow the proper procedure during the trial.

"This conviction does not sustain because the proceedings before the trial judge cannot be called as trial in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law," Jethmalani said.

"The trial court ignored the fact that the witnesses were not examined by the prosecution properly," he further alleged.

The court was hearing appeals of Vishal and Vikas Yadav, son of former MP DP Yadav, and hired killer Sukhdev Pehalwan, who are serving life term in New Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Earlier, the counsel for Vikas had completed his final arguments on the appeal.

Yadavs were convicted in 2008 by the trial court for kidnapping and later murdering Nitish Katara, son of an IAS officer, as they were against his love affair with their sister Bharati Yadav.

The duo had killed Katara on the night of February 17, 2002, after abducting him from a marriage party in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad.

(With additional information from PTI)

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