Katara case: HC dismisses Vikas Yadav's parole extension plea

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by Vikas Yadav, who is serving a 30-year jail term without remission in the Nitish Katara murder case, seeking extension of the parole granted to him.

Yadav was last month granted seven-day custody parole by the high court to visit his 93-year-old ailing grandfather and to challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court.

After expiry of parole, he had again moved the high court for an extension of three more weeks.

However, on April 10, the high court's single-judge bench dismissed the plea and the order, which Yadav challenged before the division bench.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw dismissed the appeal, saying the single-judge order of granting one week's parole was free from "perversity or illegality".

"The settled principle of law is that in exercise of letters patent jurisdiction, the division bench would interfere with the discretion exercised by the single judge only if it is perverse and not to substitute its own view over that of the single judge," the bench added.

Challenging the April 10 order, Yadav had said he was not able to prepare the appeal in seven days of parole time granted to him, and thus needed extension of parole as the documents in the case were bulky and more time was needed to prepare his appeal in the Supreme Court.

Police, however, opposed the plea, saying enough time had been granted to him to prepare for appeal.

The high court on February 6 had enhanced to a 30-year jail term without remission the life sentence awarded to Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal Yadav for Katara's murder.

Katara was a friend of Vikas Yadav's sister.

Vikas Yadav, son of politician D.P. Yadav, had earlier pleaded before the court that his conduct had been good throughout his 13 years in jail so far.