Bharti Yadav, the elusive key witness in the Nitish Katara murder case, was on Friday directed by a Delhi [Images] court to appear before it on November 25 for recording her statement.

The order to this effect was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur after Bharti's counsel S C Bhuttan gave an undertaking that she will appear before the court on November 25 for her testimony in the case, in which her brother and cousin are the main accused.

The advocate has been engaged by Bharti's maternal uncle Bharat Singh.

The counsel told the court that Bharti, who is pursuing studies in United Kingdom, will be staying in India from November 25 to 28.

The court on September 28 had directed the counsel to take instruction from Bharti and inform when she would appear for recording of her statement.

The court had kept in abeyance the proclamation notice issued against Bharti, daughter of Uttar Pradesh [Images] politician D P Yadav.

She had also moved an application before the Delhi high court seeking quashing of an order declaring her a proclaimed offender, which will be heard on October 16.

Bharti's brother and cousin Vikas and Vishal are accused of kidnapping and murdering Nitish with whom she had an intimate relationship.

Seventeen witnesses in the case have turned hostile.

While Vikas and another accused Sukhdev Pehlwan are in jail, Vishal has been granted bail by the Delhi high court, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Katara was allegedly kidnapped and murdered on the night of February 16-17, 2002, from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where he had gone to attend a marriage party.

The trial of the case was shifted from Ghaziabad court to Delhi on the Supreme Court's direction after the victim's mother had apprehended that she would not get a fair trial in Uttar Pradesh.