Journalist Birendra Shah's murderer held after 12 years

BARA, March 8: Narendra Phaujdar aka Kundan Phaujdar has been arrested for his involvement in the murder of journalist Birendra Shah some 12 years ago.

Phaujdar, a former Maoist cadre, was held from Gadhal area of Baragadhi rural municipality-6 at 2 am when he was in deep sleep, according to the District Police Office.

Police had to open fire to detain him as some locals tried to protect him, Superintendent of Police Krishna Pangeni said.

Shah was kidnapped by an unidentified group on October 7, 2007 when he was heading towards Pipara from Kalaiya in the district. Some 34 days after the incident, his body was found buried in a nearby Tangiya forest area.  

Later on, it was revealed that then district leaders of the Maoist party Hareram Patel, Lal Bahadur Chaudhary, Ramabal Sahahi, Narendra Phaujdar and Mainejar Giri were involved in the killing. Giri was arrested and released after serving a jail term. One of the murder convict Sahani has been currently in serving jail term while two other convicts Patel and Chaudhary are still at large.