New Delhi:
Gangster Sukhdev Pehalwan, the third accused in the Nitish Katara kidnapping-cum-murder case, was today sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi Court.
The punishment was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge J R Aryan who on July 6 had held him guilty for helping former Rajya Sabha member D P Yadav's son Vikas Yadav and nephew Vishal Yadav in abducting and killing Mr Katara in 2002 for being friends with their sister Bharti Yadav.
Sukhdev Pehelwan, who played a crucial role in kidnapping and murdering the young executive, could not be located for three years after the crime.
Sukhdev worked for Vikas and Vishal Yadav, whose sister, Bharti, was dating Mr Katara. TheYadavs were arrested within days of Mr Katara's murder. Sukhdev was found in 2005 in a village on the Indo-Nepal border in Oct 2005.
The Yadav brothers were sentenced in 2008 to life in prison for Mr Katara's death. A court found that they took Mr Katara in their car from a wedding in Ghaziabad near Delhi. The Yadavs then killed him and set his body on fire.
Mr Katara's mother, Neelam, fought a long and tough legal battle to get justice for her son. (with PTI inputs)