The Chitwan District Court has given a clean chit to a total of 13 persons including the main accused Chhabi Lal Paudel in the murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari of Phujel, Gorkha.
A single bench of Judge Kul Prasad Sharma on Sunday also gave clean chit to Sita Adhikari, Ram Prasad Adhikari, Parshuram Paudel, Him Lal Adhikari, Meghnath Paudel, Bishnu Tiwari, Kali Prasad Adhikari, Bhishma Raj Paudel, Ram Prasad Adhikari, Januka Paudel and Shubhadra Tiwari.
According to the record keeper of Chitwan district court Gehendra Panta, the bases and causes of the incident could not be established for lack of legal evidences in the case as the government failed to fulfill the responsibility of principle of justice and Clause 25 of the Evidence Act. "The claim of life imprisonment for the accused has no solid base as all cases could not be established just by filing the charge and filing the case in the court," reads the verdict.
Chhabi Lal is in police custody while others are out on bail so far. Likewise, accused Rudra Acharya is residing abroad and the charge against Acharya is kept on hold.
Krishna Prasad Adhikari, then a teenager from Phujel-7 of Gorkha district with no involvement in politics, was allegedly killed by the then rebel Maoist cadres including Paudel in Chitwan on June 6, 2004.
Adhikari's father Nanda Prasad Adhikari died on September 22, 2014 during fast-unto-death demanding justice.
A case was filed against 13 persons at the Chitwan District Court on April 13, 2014. Chitwan District Court had ordered Chhabi Lal Paudel be released on bail. The then Patan Appellate Court had upheld the verdict.
But the Adhikari family then moved the SC which in January 2015 ordered that Chhabi Lal Paudel be kept in custody for investigation of the case.
Chhabi Lal Paudel surrendered before the SC on July 8 due to the pressure created by fast-unto-death of Krishna Prasad’s mother Ganga Maya for implementation of that order given by the joint bench of Justices Girish Chandra Lal and Deepak Raj Joshi.
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