Kathmandu, October 9:

The Kathmandu District Court (KDC) today remanded all the six accused in the Bibek Sharma Luitel murder case in judicial custody.

Following a hearing today, a single bench of Judge Prem Raj Dhakal issued the order as per Clause 118 (2) of the Court Management Chapter of the Muluki Ain 1963. The bench observed that evidence produced before it proved that the accused had a hand in murdering 8-year-old Bibek of Koteshwor. The court directed government authorities to detain Bhikhari Khan, Okil Ansari, Pappu Mandal, Pateni Lama, Shakhina Manandhar Khapung and Mokhtari Ansari in the Central Jail at Tripureshwor.

Another accused Akabar Ansari is still absconding.

Today, government attorneys Surendra Bahadur Thapa and Yam Baniya claimed that the accused abducted the schoolboy and killed him. All the accused, except Okil Ansari, said they had admitted to the crime under duress as the police had been torturing them. However, Ansari said he killed Bibek on Pateni’s direction.