RAUTAHAT, March 3: Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur has said he has been making efforts to free suspended member of parliament, Mohammad Aftab Alam even as his case is sub judice.
The former prime minister who arrived here today to inaugurate a Mahayagya religious event at Gadhimai Municipality -6 said so.
Alam, who is also a suspended NC 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 evidence of the blast.
Later, it was learnt that all those killed were making bombs to create terror in the Constituent Assembly elections to secure Alam’s win.
Alam has been framed, argues Alam's lawyer Raman Shrestha
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 the district headquarters, Gaur in October, 2019.
Earlier on May 29, 2012, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to conduct a proper investigation into the case and take action as per the law. Police were not able to take up the case as Alam was able to exert political pressure not to conduct any investigation into the case for years.
Alam was elected a lawmaker from Rautahat Constituency-2 in the first Constituent Assembly elections in 2008. He, however, lost the second Constituent Assembly elections in 2013. But in the parliamentary elections of 2017, Alam was able to secure victory 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.
Police have filed three separate charges against Alam in connection with the massacre. The prison term against him under all the three charges will total up to 32 years. If not slapped with imprisonment until death, he will be facing 20 years in prison on the murder charge, 10 years more for attempting to murder and an additional two years for causing explosion.
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