Alam, three others handed life sentences

KATHMANDU: Rautahat District Court has handed life sentences to Nepali Congress leader Mohammad Aftab Alam and three others in an explosion and murder case dating 16 years back.

A single bench of District Judge Matrika Prasad Acharya found Alam and three others guilty of an explosion in Faradawa village in then Rajpur Municipality on April 9, 2008, ahead of the 2008 Constituent Assembly election and subsequent murder of 23 people. Alam and his aides were charged with murdering 23 people including those who got injured in the explosion. He has been accused of burning all the injured in his brick kiln.

The district court has also handed life sentences to Alam’s brother Mohammad Mahtab Alam, and Shekh Saraz and Badri Sahani.

Alam was arrested on October 13, 2019. Rautahat District Government Attorney’s Office had filed a case against 11 people on the charge of killing 23 people on November 4, 2019. He was sent to judicial retention on November 15, 2019. He is currently in Nakkhu jail.