Nitish Katara Murder Case: 25 Years in Jail For Vikas, Vishal Yadav

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has upheld 25 years jail term for Vikas and Vishal Yadav in the Nitish Katara murder case.

The third convict Sukhdev Pehlwan’s 25 years jail term has been reduced by five years.

Last year the Delhi High Court had sentenced Yadav brothers to 25 years along with Pehlwan. They had challenged it before the SC.

After Monday’s order, none of them get any remission and even if the government wants to pardon them, it can’t.

Reacting to SC judgement Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish Katara, said: “The SC has accepted that it is not just another murder, it was a well-planned honour killing".

The Supreme Court had on August 17, 2015, upheld the conviction of Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev, saying "only criminals are crying for justice" in this country.

While upholding the conviction, the apex court had said that it will separately consider hearing pleas on the limited aspect relating to enhancement of quantum of sentence of the three convicts by the High Court.

It had issued notice to the Delhi government on the scope of punishment and sought the reply within six weeks.

Earlier, the high court had held that the murder of Katara, who was in love with Vikas's sister, was an "honour killing" which was done in a "very carefully planned and premeditated" manner with "extreme vengeance".

It had also enhanced the fines imposed on Vikas and Vishal by slapping an amount of Rs 54 lakh each on them, to be deposited in the trial court within six weeks.

Vikas (39), Vishal (37) and Sukhdev (40) were serving life term awarded by the lower court in May 2008 for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive and the son of a railway officer, on the night of February 16-17, 2002, as they opposed the victim's affair with Bharti, daughter of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav.

The high court had on April 2, 2014, upheld the verdict of the lower court in the case by describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in caste system.

Katara was abducted and killed by Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev as they did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti because they belonged to different castes, the court said.