Katara murder: Two cops guarding Vikas Yadav suspended

New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) The government Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that two security personnel were suspended and an inquiry initiated against them for allegedly allowing Nitish Katara murder convict Vikas Yadav leave his hospital room on the Diwali night last year.

Placing the medical records of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) before the court, advocate of victim's mother Neelam Katara alleged that Vikas was not in his hospital room on Diwali night (Oct 26, 2011).

"Vikas left the hospital at 8.30 p.m. and came back the next morning but the sister who was on duty was not informed either by the patient or the policemen who were with him," she said.

The government informed the division bench of Justice Gita Mittal and Justice V.K. Shali that Vikas's cousin and co-convict Vishal Yadav had made telephone calls costing Rs.55,000 during his stay in the Batra hospital in south Delhi.

Submitting reports related to visits of both the convicts - Vikas and Vishal - to various hospitals, the state government said that it incurred an expenditure of around Rs.20 lakh on security of both the convicts between September 2009 to February 2012 during their visits from jail to hospitals for treatment.

The bench told both the convicts that in case they failed to pay the money, it would pass an appropriate order, while asking their lawyers whether they were willing to pay the expenditure on security during their visits to hospitals.

The court was hearing the plea filed by Neelam Katara alleging that Vishal visited Batra hospital more than 40 times and Vikas visited AIIMS more than 80 times since their conviction in 2008 by misusing their financial and political influence.

Vikas and Vishal killed Nitish Katara, son of an Indian Administrative Service officer, on the night of Feb 17, 2002, after abducting him from a marriage party in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad as they were opposed to his relationship with Vikas' sister Bharti.