Bara, January 6:

The Bara district court has sent Ram Ekwal Sahani to judicial custody until the final verdict.

Ekwal had been arrested on the charge of involvement in the murder of Bara journalist Birendra Shah.

The single bench of Justice Balmukunda Dawadi had given this order. A resident of Khopawa Village Development Committee 8, Sahani was arrested on Sunday night. A Khukuri was recovered from his house. Bara Superintendent of Police Madhav Prasad Joshi said Sahani would be taken to district court for legal proceedings. Other accused of Shah’s murder Lal Bahadur Chaudhary, Kundan Phaujadar and Hareram Pattel are still at large while Mainejar Giri, another mastermind of the murder case, has been imprisoned in Birgunj until the final verdict.

Journalist Birendra Shah had been abducted on October 5, 2007 from Pipara Dhodhiya bazaar and his body had been excavated from a jungle near Dumarwana Tangiyabasti on November 8 the same year.