Nitish Katara murder convicts Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav would be examined by a board of doctors of AIIMS Feb 7 to ascertain their health condition, the Delhi High Court said Thursday while describing their frequent visits to hospitals as “unreasonable”.
Taking note of allegations that Vikas visited All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) more than 80 times and Vishal visited Batra hospital in south Delhi more than 40 times, the court said: “These are unreasonable visits.”
“No record suggested that the treatment for TB was given to them. It appeared there was no need for their hospital visits,” said the division bench of Justice Gita Mittal and Justice V.K. Shali.
The victim’s mother Neelam Katara had approached the court alleging that Vikas visited AIIMS more than 80 times and Vishal had visited Batra hospital more than 40 times since their conviction in 2008 by misusing their financial and political influence.
Vikas Yadav, son of Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav, was convicted in 2008 along with his cousin Vishal for kidnapping and murdering Katara, a close friend of his sister Bharti.
The duo kidnapped and killed Katara, son of an Indian Administrative Service officer, on the night of Feb 17, 2002, after abducting him from a marriage party in Ghaziabad as they were opposed to his relationship with Bharti.
The court directed the Tihar jail authorities to take both the convicts to AIIMS Feb 7 at 11 a.m. for medical examination.
“Before passing any order, the bench would like to know the present health condition of the convicts,” the court said, after going through the records filed by the jail authorities about the convicts’ treatment at AIIMS and Batra hospitals.
The bench directed AIIMS to submit by Feb 24 the medical records of Vikas since 2008 in a sealed cover and also directed Batra hospital to present the records related to Vishal’s treatment since 2002.
