RAUTAHAT, OCTOBER 3

Police arrested an accused in Rautahat’s Rajpur bomb explosion that took place 12 years ago.

Badri Sahani, 55, from Bara’s Simraingadh Municipality-4, was held from Nepal-India border of Badki Bankul area located in Rautahat’s Baudhimai Municipality-7.

After Nepali Congress leader Mohammad Aftab Alam was arrested on the charge of murdering people and causing explosion, Sahani was living in a hideout in India’s Muzaffarpur, police said.

Police had nabbed Sahani with support from India’s Special Task Force, yesterday evening and brought him to Nepal. A joint team from Province 2 Police Office and District Police Office Bara had nabbed Sahani from the border area. “Acting on a tip-off, the police team nabbed Sahani”, said DIG Dhiraj Pratap Singh, Province 2 Police Chief. Sahani was working as a head mason at a brick kiln when the explosion took place, police investigation showed.

On the eve of the First Constituent Assembly polls in 2008, Aftab Alam had hired people to make improvised explosive devices, which had exploded at Sekh Idirs’ cowshed. Three people, including Shree Narayn’s son Trilok Pratap, were killed in the explosion. Alam had allegedly burnt 23 injured persons in the brick kiln to destroy evidence.

Police arrested Aftab Alam on 13 October 2019 based on the case filed by Shreenarayan Rajput. He has been remanded to judicial custody. A year after Alam was held, head mason Sahani was nabbed today.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on October 4, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.