New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday convicted Vikas and his cousin Vishal Yadav in the sensational six-year-old Nitish Katara murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur held Vikas, son of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, and his cousin Vishal guilty of murder, abduction and destruction of evidence in the case. The sentence is expected to be pronounced on May 30.

The court rejected a plea of Vikas that the pronouncement of verdict be stayed as the Delhi High Court is likely to hear his application seeking stay on trial court proceedings on Wednesday.

The judge then posed a query to defence counsel G K Bharti as to whether the High Court had stayed the proceedings in this court.

Finding the reply in negative, the court straight away pronounced the verdict, saying, "I hold Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav guilty under Section 302, 364, 201 and 34 of the IPC".

Vikas and his cousin were then taken away to the lock-up.

Vikas had on Tuesdya moved the High Court after the Additional Sessions Judge dismissed his fresh application seeking to re-examine key witness Ajay Katara and others in the light of a CD, allegedly pointing towards a nexus between the witness and Nitish's mother, Neelam Katara, who is the complainant in the case.

The High Court was to hear the matter on Wednesday.

Reacting sharply to the turn of events, counsel for Vikas, G K Bharti said, "It seems that the trial court has given this verdict under some pressures from some quarter".

Neelam Katara, who had been fighting the legal battle for the last six years, said, "My faith in judiciary has been strengthened with the verdict".

She also extended her thanks to the media, saying, "You people have supported me for a just cause and I believe this will ensure that no other son of any mother has to meet such a fate".

Senior advocate, Balgopal, who was appearing for Vikas, said, "As of now, we have not received a copy of the verdict. We will decide on filing the appeal only after we get to know about the reasons given by the court for convicting the accused."

Vikas, sporting blue jeans and white shirt, looked unfazed over the unfolding of events in the courtroom and was swiftly taken away by the police personnel.

His cousin Vishal, who remained out on bail during the trial, was immediately taken into custody after the pronouncement of the judgement.

Seeking deterrent punishment for the convicts, the victim's mother Neelam said, "This judgement proves that an ordinary citizen like me can think of getting justice in such cases".

The prosecution had referred to the circumstantial evidence, besides the last-seen evidence in the form of Ajay Katara's testimony to prove its allegations in the high-profile murder case.

The prosecution examined as many as 43 witnesses while the defence used 26 witnesses to refute the allegations.

Bharti Yadav, sister of Vikas, who had left the country within days after the incident in 2002, also deposed before the court in 2006 after a warning that she will be declared a proclaimed offender is she failed to appear despite repeated summons.

In her testimony, Bharti, however, had denied the allegation that she and Nitish were in love, saying that they were simply friends.

According to the prosecution, the phone call records of D P Yadav, Nitish, Neelam Katara, Bharti Yadav, her sister Bhavna Yadav and some others indicated they were in constant touch with each other after the sudden disappearance of Katara from the marriage party on the fateful night.

Nitish, a business executive and son of an IAS officer, was killed by Vikas and Vishal Yadav on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002.

Vikas and his cousin Vishal had allegedly abducted the victim from a marriage party in Ghaziabad.

According to the prosecution, the accused had killed the victim as they did not approve of his alleged relationship with their sister, Bharati Yadav.

The trial of the case was shifted to Delhi on the Supreme Court's direction in May 2002 after Neelam Katara filed a petition before it expressing apprehension that she may not get a free and fair trial in a Ghaziabad court.

Chronology of events in the murder case:

* Feb 16-17, 2002: Nitish Katara (24), son of an IAS officer, was killed by Vikas, his cousin Vishal and their henchman Sukhdev Pahelwan after being abducted from a marriage party in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

* Feb 17, 2002: Neelam Katara lodges an FIR at Kavi Nagar police station in Ghaziabad after the mysterious disappearance of her son Nitish from the party. She suspects role of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav and others.

* Police recover an unidentified body at Khurja in Bulandshahr district.

* Feb 20, 2002: The proceedings to declare Vikas and Vishal as proclaimed offenders start.

* Feb 21, 2002: Neelam Katara identifies the body.

* Feb 23, 2002: Vikas and Vishal arrested from Dabra Railway Station in Madhya Pradesh.

* Feb 25, 2002: Accused brothers record their disclosure statements.

* Feb 26, 2002: CJM court in Ghaziabad remands accused to custodial interrogation.

* Feb 28, 2002: A hammer and victim's wrist watch recovered from the place of occurrence at the instance of accused.

* Mar 11, 2002: Police recover a Tata Safari car allegedly used in the offence from a factory in Karnal.

* May 3, 2002: Police chargesheet the accused under Section 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

* May, 2002: SC transfers the case to Patiala House Courts here on plea of Neelam Katara.

* Nov 23, 2002: Charges framed against the accused.

* Dec, 2002 : Prosecution starts recording of evidence.

* Nov 29-30, 2006: Bharti Yadav, sister of accused, deposes in the case.

* Apr 19, 2007: Recording of statements of prosecution witnesses concludes with the examination of 43 witnesses including Ajay Katara.

* Apr 20, 2007: Both accused start recording their statements in the case.

* May 15, 2007: Recording of statements of the accused concludes.

* May 30, 2007: Examination of defence witnesses starts.

* Sep 28, 2007: The examination of defence witnesses concludes with recording of testimonies of 26 witnesses.

* Dec 6, 2007: The prosecution concludes final arguments.

* Apr 16, 2008: The defence concludes final arguments.

* Apr 30, 2008: The prosecution and defence submit their written arguments in the court, which fixes May 14 for pronouncing the date of verdict.

* May 12, 2008: Vikas files an application for re-examining witness Ajay Katara in the light of a sting operation, allegedly revealing that the witness took money for testifying in the case.

* May 14, 2008: Court issues notice to the Delhi government on Vikas's plea.

* May 24, 2008: The plea of Vikas was disposed of following the submission that Ajay Katara had admitted to the content and veracity of the CD.

* May 26, 2008: Accused files fresh plea on the issue.

* May 27, 2008: Additional sessions judge Ravinder Kaur dismisses application and fixes the case for pronouncement of verdict on May 28.

* Accused approach the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain trial court from delivering the verdict.

* May 28, 2008: The trial court convicts Vikas and Vishal for murder, kidnapping and destruction of evidence in the case. The quantum of sentence to be pronounced on May 30.

Source : Agencies