KATHMANDU: The main perpetrator of the infamous Hotel Landmark gang-rape case, which happened nearly two years ago in the capital city, has been slapped five-year imprisonment.

Kathmandu District Court handed the prison statement of five years and two months to Shailesh Karki. On November 7, a bench of District Judge Kamal Prasad Pokhrel gave the verdict, and along with it, decided that Karki should provide a compensation of Rs 700,000 to the victim, stated information officer at the district court, Gyan Bahadur Karki.

Two other persons who were involved in the gang-rape -- Bikash Gautam and Deepak Shrestha -- have been sentenced to 14 months in prison, informed Karki.

On January 21, 2018, a woman was raped in Durbarmarg-based Hotel Landmark. The victim had claimed that she had been gang-raped at the hotel by four persons, including her alleged boyfriend Karki, in a drunken stupor. The next day, the victim filed a case against the four.

Police had formed a five-member probe panel led by Superintendent of Police Ram Dutta Joshi after the gang-rape victim filed the FIR against the culprits at Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, alleging that Durbar Marg-based Metropolitan Police Range had forced her into reconciling with the rapists by accepting a bribe from them, and let them walk free.

Police had then stepped up a manhunt to apprehend Shailesh Karki, Bikash Gautam, Deepak Shrestha and Ravi Paudel.