CBI books lawyers, two others for filing fake SLP in SC to frame Nitish Katara's brother

New Delhi: The CBI has registered an FIR against eight lawyers and two others for allegedly filing a Special Leave Petition based on forged documents to "implicate" Ajay Katara, a witness in the sensational murder case of his brother Nitish Katara, in a false rape case.

The central probe agency took action on the order of the Supreme Court which directed it to probe the matter after the man who purportedly filed the plea claimed that he had not signed any "vakalatnama" in a matter linked to his daughter who had levelled allegations of rape against Ajay Katara.

The son and nephew of politician DP Yadav were convicted of abducting and killing Nitish, 23, on February 17, 2002.

The CBI has registered the FIR against the woman, who had filed the rape complaint against Ajay, her husband and eight lawyers who were part of filing the SLP before the Supreme Court, officials said.

The woman's father on whose name the SLP was filed before the Supreme Court said that he had never her after she eloped and married in 2013 and could not have signed it.

The Badaun police had closed the case of alleged rape filed by the woman against Ajay Katara as no evidence was found against him.

Ajay in his submissions told the Supreme Court that he was being slapped with a number of fake cases at the behest of DP Yadav, "a known history-sheeter", as he was the only witness on whose testimony his son and nephew were sentenced to a life term in the murder of Nitish Katara, the apex court order noted.

He said at least 37 cases were filed against him out of which 35 have been turned down at the investigation level while the remaining two have been stayed by the Allahabad High Court.

He claimed that the father of the complainant woman had filed a case with Badaun Police in 2013 that his daughter, a minor at that time, was taken away by four persons.

Ajay said his name was nowhere in the FIR, the affidavit filed by the victim or her statement made in person before the Allahabad High Court.

However, when she made a statement before the local police and magistrate under 164 CrPC two months later, she introduced a new story that Ajay Katara "did wrong things" with her when she reached Ghaziabad for eight days in June 2013.

The investigation officer closed the case against Katara in December 2013.

The victim did not file any protest petition regarding the closure of the case for nearly five years. In 2018, she moved an application before the Badaun court that Katara should be arrested and tried but it was rejected by the court.

She challenged the order before the High Court which gave a direction to the police to investigate and to the Badaun court to look the matter afresh, he said.

Katara challenged it in the High Court which quashed the proceedings against him on December 16, 2019, observing that even if the entire material collected during the evidence is assumed to be true on its face value, then also any commission of a cognisable offence under IPC 376 (rape) is not made out against him.

Four years later, a petition was filed before the High Court seeking recall of the 2019 order which was also dismissed by it on April 2 this year, Ajay Katara said.

Two appeals were purportedly filed by the complainant's father before the Supreme Court -- one challenging the 2019 high court order quashing the proceedings against Ajay and another challenging the 2024 order quashing the recall petition.

On July 29, 2024, the woman's father sent a letter to the Supreme Court registry claiming that he had not filed any SLP and it was "falsely" filed in his name.

The father later appeared in the court confirming the contents of his letter and that he does not know the lawyers -- Anubhav, RPS Yadav and Karan Singh Yadav-- involved in the filing of the petition.

The Supreme Court was of the view that the woman, and her husband with the "able assistance" of a battery of advocates namely Advocate on Record Anubhav Yashwant Yadav, RPS Yadav, Karan Singh Yadav along with advocate and notary AN Singh and lawyers in the high court Santosh Kumar Yadav, Jai Singh Yadav and Alok Kumar Yadav had "made a brazen attempt to falsely implicate Ajay Katara by filing false proceedings" in the name of the father by "filing false and fabricated documents".

All these lawyers have been booked by the CBI in its FIR filed in connection with the case.

"Katara is made to suffer for being a witness in the said case (Nitish Katara murder). As stated by him in the affidavit, he was subjected to continuous threats and still continues to be under pressure for having appeared as a witness," the court noted.

Handing over the probe to the CBI, the Supreme Court said the matter assumes serious concern when the advocates who are the officers of the court are involved, when they actively participate in the ill-motivated litigations of the unscrupulous litigants and assist them in misusing and abusing the process of law to achieve their ulterior purposes.