Rautahat, May 22

Police fired 12 rounds in the air when the locals protested the midnight raid at Nepali Congress’s suspended lawmaker Mohammad Aftab Alam’s house and two other nearby houses last night, in a bid to arrest Alam’s brother.

A police team had reached Alam’s house at about 12:00 am to arrest his brother Mahatab Alam, who is one of the accused of the Rajpur explosion and was at large. Police had reached Alam’s house acting on a tip-off that Mahatab and others were there to celebrate Ramjan festival.

“We had to fire 12 rounds in the air as the locals tried to prevent the police personnel from carrying out the search of the houses,” said SP Rabiraj Khadka of Rautahat. “We haven’t got hold of Mahatab but search for him and others in connection with the explosion is on,” said the SP.

Rajpur Municipality Mayor Shekh Shakil Akhtar condemned the police act of raiding somebody’s home at midnight. “The act of breaking into people’s homes at midnight like dacoits is against the norms of the rule of law,” the mayor said.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 23, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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