RAUTAHAT, Oct 25: Mohammad Aftab Alam who is currently under police custody argued that his arrest in connection to an 11-year old incident is an unjustified and irrelevant one.

Alam said so while emerging from the Rautahat District Court after it extended the police custody by eight days for investigations. 

He said that the arrest is baseless and goes against the principle of rule of law and the spirit of the constitution. "It’s no other than a political vendetta against me," he said. 

The district court has remanded him to additional eight-day custody for further investigation, Rautahat Police Chief Bhupendra Khatri told Republica Online. 

Alam, who is also a Nepali Congress lawmaker, has been accused of killing dozens of persons in a massive blast in Rautahat. The blast, which occurred at the cowshed of Alam’s relative when the victims were making bombs, had allegedly left 14 dead and eight injured. Alam has been accused of taking the blast-injured and the dead to a nearby brick kiln and throwing them in the furnace to destroy any evidence.

Later, it was learnt that all those killed were making bombs to create terror in the Constituent Assembly elections to secure Alam’s win.

As per the investigation by police, Alam had killed eight of the injured witnesses in a brick kiln. A team of police led by DSP Nabin Karki arrested Alam at Idris Gate in Rajapur Municipality-1, while he was on his way to attend a tea reception organized by Nepali Congress in district headquarters, Gaur.

Alam was elected lawmaker from Rautahat Constituency-2 in the first Constituent Assembly elections in 2008. Meanwhile, he lost the second Constituent Assembly elections in 2013. But in the parliamentary elections of 2017, Alam won from Rautahat Constituency-2.

As part of the police investigation, two persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in the blast. Based on the statements given by the two accused during interrogation, police arrested NC lawmaker Alam, 11 years after the blast.

 
• Alam
 
• Murder
 
• Rautahat