KATHMANDU, Nov 15: Gauri Shankar Ram Chamar, one of the Rautahat bomb-blast survivors, has appealed for his security after murder-accused Mohammad Aftab Alam's henchmen abducted him and held him captive for four days to force him to change a statement he had recorded in court.

In an application filed at Rauthat District Court on Thursday, Chamar, who survived the 2008 deadly bomb blast, has demanded security for himself, stating that he is still receiving threats from Alam's supporters. He has also stated that they are offering him money to change his court statement.

“Since the defendant's people can abduct me again any time and force me to sign documents contrary to my previous statement, I hereby request arrangements for my security,” states the application filed by Chamar.

Chamar, who is from Sitamadhi in Bihar, was injured in the bomb blast when he had gone to Alam's house to receive his wages. Alam is accused in connection with the bomb blast deaths and injuries.

Following his abduction, Chamar had tried to file a counter statement that he was injured in a stove blast, not by a bomb. But he later told police that he was forced by Alam and his men to change his statement. He said they had threatened to kill him and his family if he didn't change his statement to the court.

Chamar has requested protection for himself and his family.

As with Chamar, Alam's men had tried to make Amina Khatun also change her court statement. Amina is the widow of Mohammed Osi Akhtar, one of the locals reportedly killed in the bomb blast and later disposed of in a brick kiln furnace. After receiving a monetary offer from Alam's associates, Amina sought to file an application stating that Osi was working abroad.

She later backtracked after media reported that she had already received an official death certificate for her late husband.

Osi Akhtar's mother Ruksana was killed by an unidentified group after she filed a complaint demanding that Alam and others involved in the death of her son in the bomb blast should be booked.

Alam, a leader of the Nepali Congress party, is now under judicial custody. A former minister, Alam stands accused of the death of 22 persons in the Rautahat blast. The blast, which occurred on the premises of one of Alam's relatives when they were making bombs, allegedly left 14 people dead and eight injured.

Alam has been accused of taking the blast-injured and the bodies of the dead to a nearby brick kiln and throwing them into the furnace to destroy any evidence of the incident.

Later, it emerged that they were making bombs to create terror during the Constituent Assembly elections in order to secure Alam's poll win.

The district court is now conducting hearings in the case.

 
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