Bharti Yadav comes out of the court after her deposition. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, Nov. 29: The worst fears of slain Nitish Katara’s mother Neelam came true today when Bharti Yadav told court she was only friends with her son, not in any relationship with him.

A lawyer present at Bharti’s in-camera deposition said at the end of the day: “Bharti Yadav has told the court she was not in a relationship with Nitish Katara. She said they were only friends.”

Bharti’s statement comes as a big setback to the Nitish killing case, in which her testimony is crucial to establish the motive of the murder.

Her brother, Vikas Yadav, and cousin, Vishal Yadav, are alleged to have killed Nitish in February 2002 because they were against the relationship the two shared.

Although Bharti had in a written statement told police after the murder that her “friendship with Nitish slowly evolved into love”, she changed the stand before judge Ravinder Kaur today.

“She told the judge the written testimony was completely untrue,” a source in Vikas’s legal team said. A source in the Katara family confirmed this.

The lawyer said the turnaround was bound to be exploited by the defence to question the authenticity of Bharti’s police statement, in which she is also believed to have said that Nitish had spoken to his mother about marrying her.

Neelam, who attended the deposition today from which the media were barred, looked dazed as she walked out unsteadily from the court, held by younger son Nitin.

All she would say was she felt “tired and weak”.

However, hours after Bharti returned to Delhi from London last week, Neelam had expressed “full faith” in her. “Her love for Nitish was too strong for her to now backtrack,” she had said.

Two days ago, Nitin too had told the court how “Bharti was deeply in love with Nitish”.

He had also produced transcripts of email messages she sent him after Nitish’s murder, expressing concern that her brothers may have “kidnapped” him.

“I don’t know what they might do to him,” one of the emails said.

Bharti’s father and Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav was a picture of confidence as he walked out of court. “I have nothing to worry, my son’s future is safe,” he said, a big smile on his face.

Deposition cash

Bharti will be paid Rs 30,000 by the Ghaziabad administration for expenses incurred in connection with her deposition before the court, according to PTI.

The senior superintendent of police of Ghaziabad will hand over the amount to Bharti. The amount is referred to as ‘diet money’.