NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the interim bail granted to Vikas Yadav by four weeks, to attend to his ailing mother. He was undergoing a 25-year jail term in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh asked Yadav to approach the Delhi High Court for seeking remission in the case. The top court has been extending interim bail to Yadav on medical grounds.
“Though arguments have been made by both the sides with respect to the physical condition of the petitioner’s mother, we are inclined to extend the period of interim bail by four more weeks,” the top court said in the order.
While granting interim bail earlier to Yadav till May 8, the apex court had directed that he will only meet his ailing mother during the bail period.
The bench of the apex court had earlier directed that his mother shall be admitted to AIIMS immediately for two days for medical examination by a board of doctors to be constituted to examine her health condition. “We direct that the petitioner’s (Vikas Yadav) to be examined by AIIMS, Delhi, doctors,” the SC had ordered.
The top court in its April 24 order had further directed that Yadav furnish a bail bond of one lakh rupees with one surety of the like amount, and he shall reside only at his residence in Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad.
It asked Uttarakhand and Delhi police to provide security to witnesses and Neelam Katara, keeping in view the fact that Yadav would be on interim bail till May 8. The court had clarified that it was releasing Yadav on interim bail, only on the context of his mother’s health condition. It also recorded in its order that Yadav had complete 23 years of his jail sentence.
A trial court in May 2008 had held Vikas Yadav guilty of murdering Nitish Katara for being in a relationship with his sister.
On October 3, 2016, the apex court had awarded a 25-years jail term without benefit of remission to Vikas Yadav, son of controversial Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav, and his cousin Vishal Yadav for their role in the kidnapping and killing of business executive Nitish Katara.