Rautahat, November 15

Rautahat District Court today remanded suspended lawmaker of the Nepali Congress Mohammad Aftab Alam, who was arrested on the charges of murder and causing explosion in Rautahat’s Rajpur 12 years ago, to judicial custody.

A single bench of Judge Dipak Dhakal denied bail to Alam, who has been charged with murdering 18 persons by dumping them in a brick kiln on the eve of the first Constituent Assembly elections, said court staffer Gunaraj Parajuli. All the 18 persons were injured when a bomb they were making, allegedly at the behest of Alam, went off. Cases on murder, attempted murder and causing explosion were filed against Alam in the district court.

Evidences produced by the police and government attorney’s office before the court point to Alam’s involvement in the incident.

The Office of District Attorney, Rautahat, had filed charges against Alam and 10 others, seeking life term or imprisonment till death, along with confiscation of Alam’s property on November 4.

The judge let defendant Alam and plaintiff Shreenarayan Sin-gh speak in the court before re-manding Alam to custody at 6:00pm. Security forces had to disperse Alam’s supporters when they started shouting slogans outside the court.

A police team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Nabin Karki had arrested Alam on Oc-tober 13. Ten other defendants in the case are still at large.

Alam was charged with employing people to make bombs at his home with the intention of capturing booths during the first Constituent Assembly election.

Eighteen persons, including Oshi Akhtar and Trilok Pratap Singh of Yamunamai Rural Municipality were critically injured when a bomb they were making accidentally went off on the eve of polls on 9 April 2008. Akhtar and Trilok Pratap Singh were among those killed when they were dumped in a brick kiln. On 21 April 2008, Singh’s father Shreenarayan Singh and Akhtar’s mother Ruksana Khatun had filed an FIR against Alam, his younger brother and two others, accusing them of murdering their kin by dumping them in the brick kiln.

But, Rautahat District Attorney’s Office decided not to proceed with the case against Alam and others two months later. After that, Shreenarayan moved the Supreme Court against the decision of the District Attorney’s Office. A joint bench of SC justices Sushila Karki and Bharat Bahadur Karki issued a directive to investigate the incident on 29 May 2012.

When proper investigation was not conducted, victims’ kin registered a contempt of court case against Rautahat District Police Office four years later.

It was only after the Supreme Court wrote to the Rautahat District Police Office to investigate the incident on March 22, police swung into action and arrested Alam.