Bharti, Nitish

New Delhi, Oct. 10: Bharti Yadav’s emails to Nitin Katara, brother of her slain boyfriend Nitish, are not evidence enough to prove that her relatives are guilty of the murder, Delhi police said in a statement released today.

The police said the emails, made public by a TV channel, have been with them since Bharti’s deposition on March 2, 2002.

Nitish was allegedly picked up and killed by Bharti’s brother Vikas and her cousin Vishal from a wedding party on the night of February 16-17, 2002.

“I am telling you these people are playing games and buying time, don’t give them time. My dad (Uttar Pradesh strongman D.P. Yadav) is only concerned about his elections, saving his son and his political career,” Bharti wrote hours after Nitish’s body was found on February 20, 2002.

Vikas and Vishal were arrested near Gwalior the same day.

In other emails, she hinted she was under pressure from her father and brothers to keep mum on the murder. “You can understand why I can’t talk to you…others are at stake,” she wrote, urging Nitin not to reveal they were in touch.

The emails, the police said, are evidence in showing that Bharti was under pressure from her family, and that she believed they were involved in Nitish’s murder. However, they are insufficient to prove that her brother and cousin are guilty because her testimony is based on hearsay, the police said.

“At 1.30 that morning, I was told that my brothers, Vikas and Vishal, had taken Nitish away,” Bharti is on record as having said in her police testimony on March 2, 2002. The statement does not say she saw Nitish being taken away.

The emails will prove significant if they are used as corroborative evidence in support of other proof, the police said.

“I knew my brothers were upset because I had danced with Nitish and had been photographed with him at the wedding,” Bharti went on to say in her testimony.

The police say this statement would help establish the motive for Vishal and Vikas to murder Nitish, apart from confirming their presence at the party.

Bharti, now in London, is supposed to appear before a Delhi court by November 25.

The ministry of external affairs has said it will issue a temporary passport for her visit.