BARA, SEPTEMBER 10

Police have arrested yet another person involved in the murder of journalist Birendra Sah of Bara.

Hareram Prasad Kurmi, aka Hareram Patel, was arrested from Sapahi of Kolhabi Municipality, this afternoon.

According to SP Krishna Prasad Pangeni of Bara District Police Office, police arrested Kurmi from his hideout on the basis of a tip-off that he was hiding in the area near Kolhabi and Nijgadh.

His arrest comes 13 years after the journalist’s murder.

Police already arrested three persons involved in the murder.

Manoj Giri, Ram Ekwal Sahani and Kundan Faujdar were arrested and are serving time in prison after being handed down life imprisonment with confiscation of all property by the court in connection with the crime. One more person involved in the crime — Lal Bahadur Chaudhary Dhami — s at large till date. “Search for Dhami is under way,” said SP Pangeni.

Police have said Patel will be presented at the court tomorrow after his PCR test is conducted.

Then Maoist insurgents had kidnapped and murdered journalist Birendra Sah, then 34, of Inarwasira, Bara, in October 2007. His body was found about a month later buried in the forest of Dumarwana.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 11, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.