Nitish Katara murder: ‘Bahubali’ DP Yadav acquitted by Ghaziabad court in witness poisoning case

A court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Thursday acquitted former MP and 'Bahubali' DP Yadav and two others in a case related to the poisoning of a key witness in the Nitish Katar murder case.

While delivering the verdict, the court said the UP Police could not provide sufficient evidence in the case against Yadav and others. Ajay Katara, a key witness in the Nitish Katara murder case, filed an FIR on 18 July 2007 alleging that he was poisoned by his wife Tanu Chaudhary, DP Yadav, BJP MLA Nandkishore Gurjar, Yatendra Nagar, Salim Khan, Anuj Sharma, and Manoj Sharma.

In her complaint, Katara said there was a dispute between him and his wife Tanu Chowdhary. “On July 11, 2007, two persons named Anuj Sharma and Manoj Sharma came to my house saying that Chowdhary wanted to settle the case. They took me in their car to the temple in Mohan Nagar to settle the matter,” he said.

“They gave me potato tikki to eat but I couldn't because it tasted bitter. Then they gave me a cold drink, but I didn't take it either. The poison was mixed into the tikki as they fled the scene as I began to feel uneasy. I was undergoing treatment at Pannalal Hospital for a few days,” he added. After the samples were tested, the health department claimed that Katara fell ill due to food poisoning.

Dissatisfied with the findings, Katara went to court seeking punishment for giving him the poison.

After Yadav's acquittal, all seven accused in the case were acquitted by the court. Nitish Katara, a 23-year-old man, was killed on 17 February 2002 by Vikas Yadav, who is the son of DP Yadav. Katara was in a relationship with Vikas Yadav's sister Bharti Yadav.

According to reports, both Vikas and Vishal Yadav were behind Katara's killing and a court found them guilty in May 2008.