Kathmandu, March 13: The Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into a murder charge against former Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal and Election Commission Secretary Krishna Bahadur Raut in connection with the killing of Kumar Paudel in Sarlahi.
The order relates to the so-called encounter of Paudel on June 19, 2019, in Sarlahi. A joint bench of Justices Manoj Kumar Sharma and Shrikant Paudel issued the mandamus directing authorities to investigate the incident as a criminal case.
Besides Khanal and Raut, the order also names several police officials who were involved in the operation at the time. They include then Madhesh Province DIG Hari Bahadur Pal, now a retired AIG, then Sarlahi Chief District Officer Krishna Bahadur Raut, who currently serves as secretary at the Election Commission, then Sarlahi SP Gopal Chandra Bhattarai, now an SSP; inspectors Kiran Prasad Neupane and Krishna Dev Sah; sub-inspector Surya Kumar Karki; and police constables Binod Sah and Satyanarayan Mishra.
With the court order issued on Thursday, authorities must now open a criminal investigation against the officials. This includes issuing arrest warrants if required under the law.
The case stems from a complaint filed by Durga Devi Paudel, the mother of Kumar Paudel, who demanded a criminal investigation into the killing of her son.
On behalf of the victim’s family, advocates Badri Bhusal and Indra Aryal, among others, presented arguments before the court.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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