Kathmandu, August 1:

The Supreme Court today issued show cause notices to government authorities on a 20-year-old conviction of two policemen in a case of stolen revolvers.

A single bench of Justice Tahir Ali Ansari has given the Centre Region Police Special Court, Government Joint Attorney Rajendra Subedi, Lalitpur Chief District Officer Ananda Raj Pokhrel and Superintendent of Police Madhav Prasad Nepal 15 days to file affidavits in the court.

The bench was acting on a writ petition filed by former head constable of Nepal Police, Yagya Bahadur KC, who had to spend seven years in jail and pay a hefty fine though he was not the one to steal the two revolvers from the National Police Academy at Maharajgunj 20 years ago.

The Centre Region Police Special Court had also jailed another policeman, Khul Bahadur Kunwar, for four years on the same charge. The matter took an interesting turn in 2003 when, out of the blue, another policeman, Ghanashyam Adhikary, admitted to stealing the guns.