The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted three-month furlough to Sukhdev Yadav alias Pehalwan, convicted in the Nitish Katara murder case of 2002.
The Bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the order on the grounds that Yadav remained behind the bars for 20 years without remission.
The Apex Court directed that Yadav be produced before the trial court within seven days. It further ordered the trial court to impose appropriate conditions for temporary release of the accused.
Yadav approached the top court of the country challenging the Delhi High Court verdict of November 2024 that denied him three weeks of furlough.
The High Court had earlier rejected Yadav’s plea citing the gravity of the crime.
Sukhdev Yadav, along with Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav, were convicted in the murder case of Nitish Katara.
As per the case, they kidnapped Katara from a marriage party on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002, and later killed him over his alleged romantic involvement with Bharti Yadav, daughter of former Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav.
The Supreme Court upheld the convictions and sentenced Vikas and Vishal Yadav to 25 years of imprisonment without the benefit of remission in October, 2016. Sukhdev was awarded a 20-year jail term.
The trial court termed Nitish Katara’s murder as an honour killing, rooted in caste-based prejudice, as the Yadav cousins disapproved of his relationship with Bharti.
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