May 14 will be the ‘judgement day’ in Katara case

The court also asked both the parties to file their written arguments in the case by April 30.

Vikas and his cousin Vishal had allegedly abducted Nitish Katara, son of an IAS officer, from a marriage party in Ghaziabad on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002.

The body of the victim was recovered later from a village in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the prosecution, Katara, a business executive, was killed by the accused, as they did not approve their sister Bharti’s growing proximity with him.

The prosecution had produced last-seen evidence by claiming Ajay Katara had seen the accused taking the victim in their car on the fateful night near Hapur Chungi in Ghaziabad.

The accused contended that the chain of events in the case remained incomplete as none of the prosecution witness had either supported the abduction or identified the main accused.

They also challenged the testimony of Ajay Katara, saying the police recorded his statement more than 20 days after the incident.