Ajay Katara solely has to shut his eyes to keep in mind that evening from 22 years in the past. Slightly previous midnight, on February 17, 2002, the fog hung low as his scooter went down the largely abandoned stretch of Hapur Street that connects Ghaziabad to Delhi. He was on his manner house to Shahdara after attending a pal’s daughter’s celebration in Govindpuram, close to Ghaziabad. Merely 2 km from his pal’s home, close to the Hapur toll sales space, an SUV hit his scooter from behind, throwing him to the bottom. It was a minor hit, but it surely left Ajay shaken and indignant. He dusted himself off and walked as much as the motive force’s facet of the SUV, itching for a battle. What he noticed subsequent would alter his life endlessly.
Within the passenger seat was a person in a crimson kurta and a white stole. Hours later, the person, 23-year-old Nitish Katara, would find yourself lifeless. And Ajay would go on to turn out to be a major witness within the homicide case.
Within the automobile with Nitish that day have been Vikas Yadav, son of D P Yadav, a strongman-politician who has been in a number of events, together with the Samajwadi Social gathering and BSP; Vikas’s cousin Vishal Yadav; and their affiliate Sukhdev Pehalwan. The trio had allegedly kidnapped Nitish from his classmate’s marriage ceremony in Ghaziabad, killing him hours later. The Yadav household was reportedly irked by Nitish’s relationship with D P Yadav’s daughter Bharti. Hours later, Nitish’s burnt physique was discovered close to Hapur, in Bulandshahr’s Khurja village, not removed from the place Ajay had met with the accident.
By a seemingly twisted coincidence, Ajay and the lifeless stranger shared the identical surname. It was a accident that has outlined Ajay and decided how he would lead the remainder of his life.
Within the years that adopted, 37 circumstances have been slapped on Ajay, together with two of rape, one below the Prevention of Kids from Sexual Offences Act, and a number of circumstances of dishonest, extortion, and forgery. Over time, courts have dismissed the fees in 35 of the 37 circumstances towards him. The Allahabad Excessive Court docket stayed proceedings within the remaining two circumstances — one filed by D P Yadav towards Ajay for allegedly insulting him over a cellphone name in 2009 and the opposite, a fraud case registered towards him in 2018 — till the petitioners supplied ample proof for the court docket to proceed with the circumstances.
Final month, the Supreme Court docket ordered a CBI probe into what it stated was a fraud performed on it by some advocates and others who filed a pretend petition, allegedly to implicate Ajay in a legal case.
Rattling off dates, FIR numbers and the standing of every case, Ajay claims that there have been at the very least 10 makes an attempt made on his life — together with an alleged case of poisoning and a number of situations of capturing. “4 of those circumstances are nonetheless pending in courts,” he says.
Whereas the accident within the early hours of February 17, 2002 — and the occasions that adopted — “wrecked his life”, Ajay believes that he was maybe ordained to be there, on the spot, that evening.
“I used to be reluctant to attend the celebration that day. It was too chilly at evening and I actually didn’t need to return house on a scooter, however my pal known as me twice within the night, insisting I attend. God works in mysterious methods,” says Ajay, 51, who then labored as a small-time gemstone provider to jewelry retailers. He now runs a plant nursery and is the co-owner of a wholesale tyre enterprise.
On October 3, 2016, the Supreme Court docket sentenced Vikas and Vishal Yadav, in addition to Sukhdev Pehelwan, the third accused, to 25 years of imprisonment with out remission.
Ajay as eyewitness
In his testimonies in court docket, Ajay has insisted that when he walked as much as the SUV that knocked him down, he immediately recognised the occupants — all of them, besides the person sitting within the passenger seat in entrance, Nitish. The motive force, as it could end up later, was Vikas Yadav. “Everybody knew D P Yadav and his son Vikas,” says Ajay.
D P Yadav’s fame preceded him. From UP’s Bulandshahr to Haryana’s Sirsa, he had a string of circumstances pending towards him. In line with his 2014 Lok Sabha election affidavit, he has a number of legal circumstances towards him, together with of homicide, attempt-to-murder and extortion.
D P Yadav’s son Vikas was, by then, already embroiled within the 1999 Jessica Lal homicide case. A pal of the principle convict, Manu Sharma, Vikas was in 2006 sentenced to 4 years of rigorous imprisonment within the case.
Standing close to the Hapur toll plaza on that chilly February evening in 2002, Ajay instinctively realised that he wouldn’t win this battle. He moved his scooter out of the automobile’s manner and let it go.
Three days later, TV channels beamed information of a homicide in Bulandshahr – a person’s physique had been discovered on Shikarpur Street. Ajay watched as the person’s mom declared on nationwide tv that she knew her son’s killers. Then, the lifeless man’s photograph got here up on display and Ajay felt a knot in his abdomen – he recognised the person.
“It was the identical man I noticed close to Hapur, sitting beside Vikas Yadav that day. Within the photograph, he wore that very same crimson kurta and white stole that I had seen him in,” says Ajay.
Ajay says it took him nearly over every week to summon the braveness to go to the police. He went to the Kavi Nagar police station, the place, he claims, the Station Home Officer (SHO) didn’t hear him out. “He was most likely scared. Once I advised him that I had seen the 4 of them close to the Hapur toll plaza that evening, he didn’t consider me,” he says.
Ajay says the police in the end needed to take his account significantly since he had supplied them essentially the most essential piece of proof — that Nitish was seen with the accused minutes earlier than he was discovered lifeless. “I gave the police the licence plate quantity,” he says.
In August 2002, the trial within the Nitish Katara homicide case began within the Patiala Home courts. On Could 31 the next 12 months, Ajay stood up in court docket to relate what he noticed on that February evening in 2002. That’s when his troubles started.
The threats
In March 2003, almost two months earlier than his court docket look, Ajay says, an acquaintance known as him to Lucknow to debate one thing “that will profit me tremendously”.
“As we engaged in small speak, D P Yadav walked into the room. I realised I had been trapped into negotiating with him. He advised me to show right into a hostile witness. Once I refused, my acquaintance, who was nonetheless within the room, stated, ‘Do you need to see your loved ones lifeless?’,” he says, including that D P Yadav allegedly provided him cash to remain quiet. “I had learn the room. I knew I used to be in peril. So I advised him I received’t give my testimony, however refused to take the cash,” Ajay claims.
But, he reached the courtroom and gave his testimony. Within the years that adopted, a sequence of circumstances have been slapped on Ajay, all of which, he alleges, have been filed at D P Yadav’s behest.
The primary case towards Ajay was filed in September 2003, quickly after his first testimony in court docket, allegedly by a relative of D P Yadav. “In line with this particular person, Saroj, I had misbehaved along with her and torn her garments throughout an argument in Ghaziabad…I used to be in Haridwar at the moment,” he says, insisting that he had by no means met or heard of Saroj earlier than the case was filed towards him.
When he returned to Ghaziabad to deal with the matter, Ajay claims that D P Yadav allegedly despatched goons to the police station to intimidate him. A safety element was put in place for Ajay’s security, which has remained with him for the final 22 years.
When The Indian Categorical reached out to D P Yadav, he denied having registered any case towards him. “I’ve not stated or written a single phrase towards him. I can provide it to you in writing…I can provide you an affidavit saying we haven’t stated or performed something towards him.”
When requested in regards to the makes an attempt on Katara’s life, Yadav stated, “Why would I do this? Katara is a fraud who likes to flaunt his gunmen round and earn his cash via unlawful means. He’s saying all these lies to maintain his safety element with him.”
Nevertheless, whereas dismissing the circumstances towards Ajay, judges have in successive orders taken notice of the harassment he has needed to face. In a single such case listening to in 2024, the court docket reiterated an order from 2015, the place it noticed, “The one public witness Ajay Katara, who couldn’t be influenced and stood by his assertion, has wanted court docket orders for police safety and is being subjected to a number of legal complaints by kinfolk of the appellants or individuals related to them. The truth that all these complaints and circumstances arose solely after he surfaced earlier than the police speaks for itself.”
In 2019, in the course of the listening to of a case by which Ajay was accused of raping a minor in 2014, the court docket noticed, “The malafide behind the allegations towards the applicant is writ massive in view of factual backdrop of the standing of applicant, his admitted enmity with Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav… the historical past of his false implication in as many as twenty 4 (24) legal circumstances, whereby both remaining report was submitted by the native police in favour of applicant or the case resulted in acquittal, or the proceedings have been stayed by the Excessive Court docket.”
Regardless of the drama in his life, Ajay says he yearned for a “regular” life. In 2005, then 32 years previous, he married a woman from Ghaziabad, however the marriage resulted in a divorce and a case towards Ajay below IPC Sections associated to dowry and psychological abuse.
In 2008, the Allahabad Excessive Court docket disposed of the dowry case towards Ajay after the police filed a cancellation report in February 2007 – regardless of a number of summons, the girl and her attorneys had failed to seem in court docket.
Between 2007 and 2009, Ajay claims he confronted a number of makes an attempt on his life: in June 2007, he was allegedly shot at in Meerut whereas he was there for work; and in November 2007, he was kidnapped and flung from a high-speed automobile.
In 2013, a POCSO case was filed towards Ajay after he accused of kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old lady from Badaun. The case would stretch on for almost a decade regardless of being disposed of by the Allahabad Excessive Court docket on December 16, 2019. On April 2 this 12 months, the Excessive Court docket dismissed an software looking for revision of its 2019 judgment. It was on this case that two particular go away petitions have been filed within the Supreme Court docket, allegedly to implicate Katara, after which the apex court docket on September 20 ordered a CBI probe.
In 2013, a lady accused Ajay of raping her in a lodge close to Mehrauli. “As soon as once more, I used to be knowledgeable of the case via TV information channels. I used to be in Andamans this time,” he says. The closure report was filed the next 12 months.
Even for somebody who had confronted a barrage of circumstances, the rape circumstances, he says, broke him utterly. “I fell into deep despair and misplaced plenty of weight. I couldn’t even get off the bed. I contemplated suicide. That was the one time I questioned if I’d have been higher off simply giving in,” says Ajay.
Why then had he preserved for 22 lengthy years? “He (Nitin) was a Katara like me. How might I’ve let down one other Katara?”
Speaking of how Ajay’s testimony was essential to the case, his counsel Pradeep Kumar Dey advised The Indian Categorical, “His was the final seen proof and within the court docket of regulation, that comes below circumstantial proof, which is taken into account crucial. The court docket can convict the particular person based mostly on that together with another materials.”
‘It’s suffocating’
The 2-decade battle has come at a heavy worth for Ajay. For one, he’s deeply distrustful of individuals. “I’ve only a few associates,” he says, including, “I don’t reveal my plan upfront to even my safety staff. Who is aware of who will say what to whom?”
Rising more and more paranoid for his security, in 2019, Ajay rented a home in Shahdara for some time. “Not less than my household can be protected if I stayed away from them,” he explains. He ensured that the home was on the highest ground, had at the very least two exits in case he needed to escape, and was situated on the finish of a slim gully so not plenty of males might simply make their manner into the home.
Even right this moment, his home in Ghaziabad faces the principle gate of his housing complicated. “I at all times, at all times make sure that my home has a couple of exit,” he says. All through his dialog with The Indian Categorical, he insisted on sitting dealing with the principle gate of his home.
Ajay says the makes an attempt on his life and the false circumstances have over time come down and he has settled into “considerably of a routine”. Whereas 4 days of the week are put aside for court docket appearances, he spends the remainder of his time “catching up on no matter is left of life”.
He has since remarried and has a son. And but, Ajay hardly ever goes out along with his household. “I’ve been married for 14 years now, however I haven’t ever gone out to observe a movie with my spouse and son,” he says.
Katara recollects how in 2020, his spouse and son, then six years previous, have been injured after a automobile rammed into their scooter. I was fearful my son can be attacked in class…However I’ve learnt to loosen up a bit now… Now, a policeman accompanies my son to the bus cease,” he says.
When his spouse ventures exterior to purchase greens, it’s with the safety element in tow.
“Dum ghut ta hai… Par andhera ko mitane ke liye deepak ko jalna padta hai na? (It’s suffocating… However a lamp must burn to emit gentle),” he says.
