Kathmandu, September 1

The Office of Public Attorney for Appeal today filed an appeal at the Patan Appellate Court seeking up to 17 years jail-term for former minister Shyam Sundar Gupta for his involvement in kidnapping and hostage taking.

Attorney General Baburam Kunwar today told The Himalayan Times that an appeal has been filed at the Patan Appellate Court after a thorough study on an earlier verdict of the Kathmandu District Court that had awarded three-and-a-half years of jail sentence to Gupta, stating it was only a case of attempted kidnapping.

Based on the district court’s verdict, the ex-minister was released after three-year jail term. Gupta had been accused of involvement in the kidnapping of businessman Pawan Sanghai some four years back. “We found that the judgment of district court was erroneous. Therefore we filed an appeal,” Kunwar added.