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Bharti Yadav to depose in Katara murder case today

Staff Reporter

Media banned from the court, cannot publish the proceedings too

IN SPOTLIGHT: A TV image of Bharti Yadav (second from left), the key witness in Nitish Katara murder case, arriving at the passport office near Patiala House courts under tight security in New Delhi on Tuesday. PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: All is set for recording of evidence of Bharti Yadav in the Nitish Katara murder case on Wednesday. Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur will start recording her evidence at 10 a.m. Ms. Bharti, a key prosecution witness in the case, arrived in India last week from London to depose.

The proceedings will be held in camera and media persons will not be allowed to be present in the court during the recording of her evidence. Neither will they be permitted to publish the proceedings.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Connaught Place, G. L. Mehta visited the courts premises on Tuesday and discussed about the security arrangements there with the judge. He told media persons that they would not be even allowed to sit in the waiting area of the courtroom.

Mr. Kaur through an order has barred media persons from reporting the proceedings.

However, Neelam Katara, mother of deceased Nitish Katara, and the parents of Ms. Bharti will be present in the court during the recoding of the evidence.

Meanwhile, Ms. Bharti on Tuesday visited the passport office near the Patiala House courts meant for Members of Parliament, bureaucrats and Ministers, to submit her revoked passport.

Ms. Bharti had apparently come in a "burqa" to escape the attention of media persons present there. However, counsel for Ms. Bharti, S.C. Buttan, who accompanied her to the passport office, denied that she had come in a "burqa".

Meanwhile, Ms. Kaur allowed a plea by the prosecution to recall Nitin Katara, brother of deceased Nitish Katara and a prosecution witness in the case, to give evidence.

The prosecution sought the recall of Nitin to record his evidence against Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav, facing trial in the case, and bring on record the e-mail address that Ms. Bharti had given to Nitin Katara two days after the disappearance of the deceased to talk about the developments in the matter.

Counsel for the accused had opposed the prosecution's plea submitting that it was an attempt to fill lacunae in the case as the e-mail story was not the part of Nitin's statement to the police.

On an application by the defence to debar media persons from entering the Patiala House courts premises on days when Ms. Bharti would go there to record her evidence, the judge chose to keep it pending.

In another development, Vikas Yadav allegely slapped a photographer who was taking photographs of the accused when he was being produced in court.

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