New Delhi: Time may be running out for Bharti Yadav.
The Patiala House Court has finally issued a proclamation against her and said she will be declared an offender if she does not appear in front of the Court by September 28.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur has directed that the proclamation proceedings should start next week with publication of a notice in Indian and internationl newspapers.
Appearing before the court, chief public prosecutor B S Joon had given an application under Section 83 of Criminal Procedure Code to seek Bharti's proclamation.
Bharti is the main witness in the murder of Nitish Katara and her testimony is believed to be crucial for proving the motive behind Katara's murder.
Earlier on Saturday, the prosecution had said that the signature on a fax allegedly sent by Bharti to the Delhi trial court was fake.
Bharti had sent the fax last week to the Additional Sessions Judge from Middlesex in England, seeking permission to depose before the court through video conferencing.
The Home Ministry says the address on the fax is genuine but that the signature is not. Bharti has consistently failed to depose in the case despite repeated summons.
On July 15, Bharti's father D P Yadav - a former Rajya Sabha MP - told the court that he met her at a function in London but refused to say where she lived. The court on May 16 ordered D P Yadav to appear in person since Bharti's present address was not traceable.
According to the prosecution, it was Bharti's friendship with Katara and the disapproval of this friendship by Bharti's brother, Vikas Yadav, which led to Katara's murder.
Nitish Katara was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by Vikas Yadv, on the night of February 16-17, 2002 from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where he had gone to attend a friend's wedding.
(With agency inputs)
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