Nitish Katara case: Bhavna Yadav testifies

Bhavna Yadav, sister of Bharti Yadav, key witness in Nitish Katara murder case, on Friday admitted before a Delhi court that the mobile phone by which the calls were made to the deceased's mother on the day of the incident belonged to her.

The prosecution has alleged that Bharti, who had intimate relationship with the victim, had called his mother expressing concern about his whereabouts. Bhavna, however, did not specify the persons who used her mobile on the date of incident.

Vikas and Vishal Yadav, son and nephew of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, are accused of kidnapping and killing Katara as they did not like his relationship with their sister.

Bhavna, who deposed after failing to appear on three dates, accepted before Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur that Katara had even joined them on her birthday in Mumbai.

Nitish, along with Bharti, had accompanied her to Mumbai on August 24, 2000 to celebrate her birthday, Bhavna said, adding that her husband Deepak Yadav had no objection to his presence during the celebration.

Bhavna's testimony on the issue of mobile phone was crucial as Nitish's mother Neelam Katara in her deposition has said that Bharti had called her, expressing concern about the well being of Nitish, as she had seen him in the company of her brother and cousin when they were attending a marriage ceremony.

Katara was murdered on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where he had gone to attend a marriage party of their common friend Shivani Gaur.

Bhavna said the address, R-4/16, Raj Nagar Ghaziabad, at which the mobile phone number 9810038469 was issued, was her father's (D P Yadav's) residence.

She, however, denied that she ever made a call to Neelam Katara from this mobile phone but accepted having called Nitish's brother Nitin and Bharti's friend Bharat Diwakar a day after from it.

Detailing the incident, she said her phone was with her driver on February 16, 2003 and she never used it that day. "Even today, the phone is in my car," she said.

At this point, the court wanted to verify this fact and asked one of its staffers to dial her mobile number after barring everybody from leaving the courtroom. However, no one picked up the phone.

Bhavna said she had left Shivani Gaur's place and went back to her in-laws house in Faridabad from where she replied to the missed calls in her phone.

Then the CDs and video recordings of the wedding function were played in the court for the prosecution and the defence sides in which Bhavna was seen carrying a mobile phone. Asked about this, she said it was not her phone and she did not remember whose phone it was.

The CDs and video recording were played in the court but only the witness and the advocates could watch it.

Bhavna also admitted to having sent birthday greeting cards to Nitish. She could not recall her husband's old or present phone number when asked.

Bharti in her statement had denied having used the mobile number 9810038469 and denied having any knowledge about it. Later, however, it was found that the phone was registered at her father D P Yadav's residence in Ghaziabad.