KIMATHANKA, June 17: The Sankhuwasabha District Court has sentenced 15 individuals, including seven police personnel, to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of two inmates at the Sankhuwasabha District Prison.
The incident occurred on August 9, 2023 (Shrawan 24, 2080 BS), when 20-year-old inmate Binod Tolangi of Madi Municipality–5, Sankhuwasabha, and 28-year-old Akash Balami of Kakani Rural Municipality–7, Nuwakot, died while in custody.
An investigation revealed that the two inmates were first taken under control by police after they were accused of attempting to escape by cutting the bars of a prison toilet window. They were later subjected to a collective assault by police personnel and other inmates, resulting in their deaths.
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Sankhuwasabha District Court Registrar Ujwal Neupane said the court sentenced all 15 defendants to life imprisonment under Section 171(1) of the National Penal Code, 2017.
The court, through the bench of Judge Raj Kumar Koirala, also ordered each convicted individual to provide Rs 50,000 in compensation to the legal heirs of Tolangi and Balami under Section 186 of the same code.
Those sentenced include Assistant Sub-Inspector Laxmi Chaudhary, police constables Suman Gurung, Pawan Kumar Mahato, and security guards Daman Singh Rai and Nusan Rai, as well as police havildar Raj Kumar Shrestha.
Other convicts include prison watchman Ram Karki, Bada Naike Anish Sharma Kattel, Sachin Rai, Saha Naike Suman Sarumagar, Tikaram Chauhan, Nabin Kumar Rai, and inmates Min Bahadur Tamang and Indradhwaj Ghimire.
The verdict was delivered by the Sankhuwasabha District Court on Tuesday.
