Kavre, August 16

Locals and well-wishers have collected the required fund to secure the release of a Nepali migrant worker who has been languishing in a prison in Saudi Arabia for the past 15 months after being framed in a murder case.

Ramchandra Timalsina, 35, hails from Kushadevi-2. He had gone to Saudi Arabia for employment two years ago, but landed in trouble.

Convicted in a fabricated murder case of a Pakistani man, he was asked by the court to pay Rs 9 million in blood money to the victim’s family or serve life term.

His plight came to light after the jailed Nepali national wrote to the PM appealing for help a few weeks ago.

Timalsina’s kin and well-wishers had initiated a ‘Save Ramchandra Campaign’ to raise the fund required to secure his release. Though the court had earlier fixed Rs 9 million, following pressure from the concerned family, the court had ruled that the imprisoned could pay Rs 3.5 million and be released if the amount was deposited by August.

Persons involved in the fund raising informed that so far over Rs 4 million has been collected. “As the required amount has been collected, we started the process of dispatching the money to him in Saudi Arabia today itself,” said Bhim Neupane, a local involved in the campaign.