Dhangadi, March 27

Kanchanpur District Court has ordered the release of suspended Central Investigation Bureau DSP Angoor GC on bail.

A case had been filed against GC accusing him of destroying incriminating evidence and torturing an innocent person in the course of investigation into the Nirmala Panta’s rape and murder case.

According to court Registrar Harikrishna Awasthi, a single bench of District Judge Rajendra Kumar Acharya ordered that GC be set free GC on a bail amount of 900,000 rupees. GC, who had been escaping police for quite some time, had turned himself in to the court on Monday. Following his surrender, the court had recorded his statement on Monday and yesterday.

“After his statement was recorded, there was a trial today which was then followed by the court’s order to release him on bail,” said court Registrar Awasthi. Legal professional Padamraj Bhatta and Assistant Attorney Mohan Joshi had argued on behalf of the defendant and plaintiff respectively during today’s hearing.

In the wake of the Nirmala’s murder, a CIB team led by GC had been commissioned in Kanchanpur on 26 July to launch an inquest into the murder, but GC landed himself in controversy over his alleged role in torturing an innocent person during investigation and destroying incriminating evidence related to the murder case.

Nirmala’s mother Durgadevi Panta and Dilipsingh Bista’s brother Khadga Bista had, on March 7, filed two cases against eight police officers, including then Kanchanpur SP Bista and the suspended CIB DSP.

Hearing the case, the district court on March 14 had ordered the release of six of the policemen implicated in the two cases on bail, while it had issued notices in the names of SP Bista and DSP GC, who had been on the run, telling them to present themselves to the court within three weeks. Bista presented himself at the court on 19 March, whereupon the court had ordered his release last Sunday on a bail amount of 1 million rupees. While 4 lakh rupees was sought in the case related to his role in destroying evidence, another six lakh rupees was sought over the case of meting out torture to an innocent person in the course of investigation.

Six other policemen implicated in the two cases have also been set free on a bail amount ranging from 2.5 lakh to 9 lakh rupees.

Meanwhile, Nirmala’s father Yagyaraj Panta reiterated his demand that the government hunt down the persons behind the murder of his daughter. “We welcome the court’s order, but our ultimate concern is justice,” he said.