Nitish Katara murder case: Supreme Court orders release of convict Sukhdev Yadav 

Noting that he has completed his sentence of 20-year imprisonment in March this year, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the release of Sukhdev Yadav alias Pehalwan — a convict in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.

Expressing surprise over the Sentence Review Board (SRB) decision to reject Yadav’s remission plea citing his conduct, a Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan wondered how the SRB could sit over an order passed by the top court.

“How can the Sentence Review Board sit over an order of a judicial authority? If this is the approach, then every convict will die in jail. Is this the conduct of an executive?" the Bench asked and noted that Yadav should have been released after the completion of his 20-year prison sentence.

On behalf of the Delhi government, Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave said there can’t be an automatic release after 20 years and life imprisonment means jail till the remainder of natural life.

However, senior advocate Siddharth Mridul, representing the convict, said Yadav completed the sentence on March 9, 2025 and there was no lawful justification to detain him any further.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had on June 25 granted him a three-month furlough — a temporary release from prison, as against a suspension or remission of the entire sentence, typically granted to long-term inmates who have served a portion of their sentence

The top court had on February 6, 2015 sentenced Yadav to “life imprisonment, which shall be 20 years of actual imprisonment without consideration of remission”.

Sukhdev Yadav, Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal were convicted and sentenced for their role in the kidnapping and killing of Katara.

They kidnapped Katara from a marriage party on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002 and then killed him for his alleged affair with Vikas’ sister Bharti Yadav.

Yadav had challenged a November 2024 order of the Delhi High Court, which dismissed his petition for releasing him on furlough for three weeks.

India