Vikas Yadav, serving life term along with his cousin Vishal Yadav, for killing MBA graduate Nitish Katara in February 2002, was on Tuesday granted "custodial parole" by the Delhi high court to attend his younger brother's marriage ceremony on April 29.
A division bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and M.L. Mehta, allowed Vikas to attend the wedding function from 6 00 pm on April 29 till the completion of the ceremony by early hours the following day.
"The wedding is to take place in Delhi. We allow custodial parole and permit the appellant(Vikas) to attend the marriage ceremony of his younger brother Kunal on April 29 under judicial custody from 6 00 pm till the completion of ceremony — early hours of April 30," the bench said.
The court permitted Vikas to meet whoever he desires in the function during the permissible hours. It, however, directed the police to ensure safe and secure surroundings.
Directing the police to accompany Vikas in plain clothes throughout the function, the bench said, "While permitting the appellant to move around and meet all those whom he may desire during this period, the officials shall ensure safe and secure surroundings."
The bench, however, declined to permit him to attend two reception events organised by his family on May 1 and May 6.
Vikas' plea seeking bail for three months to attend the marriage scheduled for April 29 and other related functions , was opposed by Delhi government's standing counsel Sanjeev Bhandari who suggested granting him a few hours of parole to attend some of the important functions linked to marriage.
Earlier, on April 7, the bench had directed the Delhi police to take Vikas under escort from 8.00 pm to 10.00 pm to attend Kunal's engagement ceremony on April 14 held in Hotel Hyatt Regency here.
In May 2008, a city court had sentenced Vikas, 37, and his cousin Vishal, 36, for killing Nitish Katara, son of an IAS officer.
According to the prosecution, Vikas and Vishal had kidnapped Katara from a marriage party in Ghaziabad on the night of February 16, 2002 and killed him as they were against Katara's intimacy with their sister Bharati Yadav.