Special Court clean chit to Prachanda, Bhattarai

Kathmandu : The Special Court today gave clean chits to the former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and former Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai. They duo were charged of treason against the state.

A three-member bench of judges Gauri Bahadur Karki, Bhola Prasad Kharel and Om Prakash Mishra issued the verdict. The bench stated that the government was unable to submit evidences to support its claim.

Accusing them along with a dozen other Maoist cadres of their involvement in attacking the police post attack in Bandipur, Tanahun, the government had a sought life-term imprisonment for all th e accused.

Maoist cadres including Govinda Prasad Paudel, Dev Raj Subedi, Lalu Kisan Sharki, Dhruba Ghimire, Araj Kumar BK, Nanda Bahadur Khadka, KB Roka, Gam Bahadur Shrestha, Yam Nath Acharya and Nara Bahadur Thapa also got the clean chit.

The government had initiated proceedings against the top Maoist leaders and a dozen other cadres on 26 January 2001.