A division bench of Justices Sushila Karki and Om Prakash Mishra recommended the court administration to send the case to the Constitutional Bench, which includes the chief justice and four other justices.Sapkota and some other Maoist leaders are facing the charge of murdering Arjun Lama of Kavrepalanchowk during the armed conflict. Lama's wife Purni Maya had lodged a written complaint at the District Administration Office on July 8, 2007 against Sapkota, Surya Man Dong, Yadav Poudel, Bhola Aryal, Karnakhar Gautam and Norbu Moktan. She had claimed that the Maoist cadres had abducted her husband on April 29, 2005 and killed him.
As Nepal Police refused to register the complaint arguing that conflict-era cases should be dealt with by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Purni Maya had filed a writ petition against the accused at the Supreme Court on March 10, 2008. Following a Supreme Court order on the writ petition, the police had registered the complaints on August 11, 2008. However, police have not initiated investigations.
As Sapkota was appointed a minister in the Jhalanath Khanal-led cabinet in 2011, rights activists and organizations had again moved the apex court arguing that a person under investigation for murder should not be made minister.
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