New Delhi, Apr 30: The air was thick with melancholy at the city court hearing the Nitish Katara murder case today as his mother Neelam narrated how she identified the badly charred body of her son, who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered in February 2002. Deposing as a prosecution witness, Neelam told additional sessions judge S N Dhingra that she was called by police to identify the body on February 1.
"I was taken to a place beyond Khurja, which was told to me as a mortuary, but it was a very dingy place. Straws were lying there. I saw the body of my son lying on the straw in burnt condition."
"The first thing I saw as I entered the room was his left foot," Neelam said, adding she recognised her son instantly.
Fighting to control her grief, the mother said "though he was tall, his hands were short and were just of my size. We used to crack jokes over this."
"So, to confirm, I put my hand against the hand of the body.
"I saw that our hands were of the same size," Neelam recounted, adding that was further confirmation of his identity. "I could identify him as a mother can identify her child, whose face is smeared in blood," she said.
"Only someone with animal instinct could have done this," Neelam added.
Katara, according to police, was kidnapped from a marriage party in Ghaziabad and later murdered by Vikas and Vishal Yadav, son and nephew of Rajya Sabha MP D P Yadav.
The Yadav brothers were apparently irked by his proximity to their sister Bharti. Bureau Report