RAUTAHAT, MARCH 24

General secretary of the main-opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) Shashank Koirala said on Wednesday that suspended member of Parliament Mohammad Aftab Alam was wrongfully accused and is a mere political pawn.

Speaking at an event organised by the working committee of the representatives of Nepal Teachers' Association of Province 2 in Brindaban Municipality of the district, Dr Koirala said that suspended MP Alam was wrongfully accused and was made a political pawn through conspiracy and as such NC is committed to freeing him from jail.

'The opposition is day dreaming that they will strengthen themselves politically by wrongfully accusing Alam,' Koirala warned. 'There is no concrete evidence to prove the allegations against Alam based on which the court will issue its verdict, he is simply a victim of the political rivalry.'

Earlier on March 3, NC President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba too speaking at an event organised in Gadhimai Municipality-6 of Rautahat district had said that Alam has been wrongfully charged of various crimes and as such the party is committed to freeing him from judicial custody in line with the formal proceedings of the court, where the matter is currently being probed.

Suspended lawmaker of the Nepali Congress Mohammad Aftab Alam, who had been arrested on the charges of murder and causing explosion in Rautahat's Rajpur 12 years ago, is currently in judicial custody.

Eighteen persons, including Oshi Akhtar and Trilok Pratap Singh of Yamunamai Rural Municipality were critically injured when an Improvised Explosive Device they were making went off on the eve of Constituent Assembly polls on 9 April 2008. Akhtar and Singh were among those killed when they were dumped in a brick kiln.

Currently, Alam is under judicial custody at the Nakkhu based central jail in Kathmandu, where he had been brought earlier from Gaur jail considering security threat.