KATHMANDU: Appellate Court, Hetauda, has upheld Chitwan District Court’s order to conduct hearing in the Krishna Prasad Adhikari murder case without sending the accused, including Chhabi Lal Paudel, to judicial custody. A division bench of Judges Hari Kumar Pokharel and Til Prasad Shrestha upheld the lower court’s order. The case is still sub judice in Chitwan District Court. Judge Pokharel told THT over phone that the government had filed a petition at the Appellate Court, stating that the lower court’s order to conduct hearing in the case without sending the defendants to judicial custody was erroneous but the higher court did not agree with the argument. According to the Appellate Court, FIR, other deeds of inquiry did not prove accusation with evidence “A court reaches a conclusion on the basis of evidence. We upheld the lower court’s orders in this case because we did not find any discrepancies in the lower court’s orders,” Judge Pokharel added. According to Appellate Court’s order, although Ganga Maya Adhikari, Thakur Prasad Adhikari and Rupa Regmi said in the deeds of inquiry that the defendants committed the alleged crime, the FIR and other deeds of inquiry did not prove the accusation with evidence and therefore there was no need to invalidate the lower court’s order issued on different dates to release the accused. Appellate Court observed that there was no need to invalidate the lower court’s order as the defendants’ not guilty plea and other evidences collected in the case indicated that there was no credible evidence to convict the accused. Krishna Prasad’s father Nanda Prasad Adhikari, who had been on hunger strike demanding action against his son’s killer(s), died during his protest last year. His body remains at Teaching Hospital morgue, as his family have refused to accept it. Krishna Prasad’s mother Ganga Maya is still on hunger strike demanding justice. Krishna Prasad of Fujel, Gorkha, was allegedly killed by Maoists on June 6, 2004, in Chitwan when he was visiting a relative there. Krishna Prasad’s brother Nur Prasad had lodged an FIR against Paudel and some other persons on December 11, 2005. Chitwan police had filed a case against Paudel, demanding three-year jail term for him.