Bharti Yadav -- a key witness in the Nitish Katara case -- must speak the truth and be cowed up by familial pressure, said Neelam Katara, Nitish's mother. Bharti arrived in Delhi from London [Images] late Friday night.

Nitish was kidnapped from a wedding that he and Bharti were attending in 2002 and his charred body was found on the Delhi-Agra highway three days later.

Bharti's brothers -- Vishal Yadav and Vikas Yadav -- are the prime accused.

In Delhi, Bharti briefly visited the office of Foreigners Registration Office to register her arrival on the basis of temporary documents issued to her by the Ministry of External Affairs on the directive of the Delhi High Court, after she expressed her desire to depose.

Her passport was cancelled when she failed to appear before the trial court despite repeated reminders and issuance of non-bailable warrants against her. 

Speaking to rediff.com Neelam said that she was hopeful Bharti would speak the truth.

"She is not the kind of person who would get cowed down by threats. I hope she won't. But, yes, four years is a long time and she could have changed," she conceded.

Bharti will be deposing before the trial court on November 29 at Patiala House in New Delhi. The media has been barred from the hearing of her testimony.

Her advocate, S C Bhttan, also confirmed the arrival of his client in New Delhi. "I can confirm that Bharti has indeed arrived from London and she is too tired to make any statements," he said.

Neelam said Bharti's deposition was 'important to take the case to its logical conclusion as she can throw useful light into the happenings of that fateful day'.

"I expect her to speak the truth. She saw Nitish going with her brothers," Neelam said.

She added that she had met Bharti twice and spoke to her over the phone before the murder of her son - "Even after Nitish went missing, she was the person who told me to file a complaint against her brothers."

The return of Bharti, she said, sends the right message to the people of the country as it shows that nobody, howsoever wealthy and powerful they might be, cannot evade the law of the land.

The court had allowed her plea for in-camera proceedings of her testimony, but rejected the demand that main complainant Neelam should not be allowed to be present during her deposition.

With PTI inputs