The Hindu : Doctor's reply a setback to Katara case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2003

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Doctor's reply a setback to Katara case

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JAN. 20. The prosecution in the Nitish Katara murder case suffered a minor setback today when the doctor who had performed post-mortem on the body of the deceased did not support with conviction the police version of Nitish being done to death with a hammer.

When counsel for Vikas Yadav, prime accused in the case and son of the Rajya Sabha MP, D.P. Yadav, asked the doctor, Anil Singhal, how much was the possibility of Nitish's head being bludgeoned with a hammer, the doctor said there "is a greater possibility'' that the injury which was inflicted on Katara could not be caused by a hammer.

The police version is that Nitish Katara, son of a senior officer in the Union Ministry of Shipping, was hit with a hammer which was recovered from Khurja in Uttar Pradesh at the instance of Vikas Yadav.

In reply to queries put to him by Vikas's counsel, K.N. Balagopal, the doctor also did not rule out the possibility of the injury being caused by the hammer but at the same time he said that it could also be caused when one fell on a stone.

The doctor further said that no trace on any inflammable odour on the body was found at the time of autopsy whereas the police version is that after being banged with the hammer the deceased was burnt to death after being soaked with diesel.

He said that the deceased's fingers were all burnt while the Ghaziabad police claimed that they had raised fingerprints of the deceased to ascertain his identity.

He further said that he had performed the autopsy in an open area and the body was not kept in the mortuary after the medical exercise.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition of Vikas Yadav seeking stay of the trial in the case till prosecution witnesses in the Jessica Lal murder case were examined.

Vikas is one of the co-accused in the Jessica Lal murder case, and had expressed his difficulties to face the trial in the Nitish Katara murder case on the ground that he and his counsel would not get time to attend both cases at the same time as they were busy in the former case which was being tried on day to day basis as is the ramp model murder case.

Justice R.C. Chopra dismissed his application saying that he would not interfere in the proceedings and that the accused should make arrangements for that.

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