Federal parliament secretariat staffer Roshni Shahi, who had complained that Krishna Bahadur Mahara attempted to rape her and assaulted her after she resisted, has filed an application with the Kathmandu District Court on Sunday.
Registrar with the court Ananda Shrestha confirmed with Setopati that she submitted the application to the bench of justice Baburam Subedi but expressed ignorance about the content of the application.
"The bench took her application and included it in the file. I don't know what is written in the application. It can be seen together with the case," Shrestha added.
The bench of Subedi on Sunday also extended judicial custody of Mahara by five days. The District Government Attorney's Office had sought an extension of seven days but the court only extended custody by five days.
The police, meanwhile, started to record his statement from Sunday.
The Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday had granted judicial custody of Mahara for three days that expired on Friday. But the police could not record his statement as he was hospitalized at Norvic International Hospital where he underwent angiogram on Friday.
A joint team of Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu, Metropolitan Police Circle, New Baneshwore and Metropolitan Police Crime Division had arrested Mahara from the speaker's residence in Baluwatar on October 6 after the Kathmandu District Court issued arrest warrant earlier on the day.
Mahara was staying at the speaker's residence despite resigning from the post on October 1. A bench of Justice Brajesh Pyakurel earlier on October 6 gave permission to the police to arrest Mahara and investigate. The new Criminal Code 2017 requires court permission to arrest any individual.
Shahi had finally lodged attempt to murder complaint with the Metropolitan Police Circle, New Baneshwore against Mahara on October 4 claiming that Mahara attempted to rape her and assaulted her when she resisted.
The police had reached the court seeking arrest warrant on the basis of that complaint.
Mahara stands to be jailed for up to five years if he is found guilty of attempting to rape her. Raping a woman older than 18 years carries a jail term of seven to 10 years, according to the Criminal Code 2017. Attempt to rape carries half the sentence which means Mahara can be jailed from 3.50-5 years if he is found guilty.
Mahara was accused of rape and assault by Shahi on September 29. She claimed an inebriated Mahara reached her rented apartment in Tinkune with a bottle of whiskey when there was no one else in the apartment Sunday night and raped her.
Shahi had called the police within an hour of the alleged incident and a team from Metropolitan Police Circle, New Baneshwore had immediately reached her rented apartment in Tinkune and recorded details from her.
She spoke to the media the next day showing bruises on her face and legs she said were inflicted by Mahara. But the police slept on the case and waited for written complaint from Shahi.
She still had bruises on her face when she reached the police with her husband Chitra Jung Shahi to register the notice giving clean chit on October 2.
An emergency secretariat meeting of ruling CPN held at the prime minister's (PM) residence in Baluwatar on October 1 asked Mahara to resign from both speaker and lawmaker to facilitate investigation. But Mahara resigned only from the post of speaker and has yet to resign from that of lawmaker as per the secretariat decision.
