Bastola death case: Friend jailed, hotel boss released on bail
The Morang District Court has remanded one of the two arrested in connection with the murder of Praveen Bastola of Urlabari Municipality-5 in Morang for trial.
Nikesh Shiva, 29, of Ratuwamai Municipality-10, Morang has been remanded in custody for trial on the charge of murder. Another accused Kumar Rai, 34, of Urlabari-9 has been released on bail of Rs 300,000. Bastola died on December 20 in a suspicious condition. The case was filed by the District Public Prosecutor's Office on the basis of the police investigation report on Tuesday after the agitation of relatives and locals.
After a heated debate on Thursday, a bench of District Judge Sudarshan Lamichhane remanded one person in custody and another on bail, said Shresthadar Raj Kumar Dahal of Morang District Court.
The tailor is a friend of the deceased Bastola while Rai is a hotel operator. The night before his death, Bastola had a dispute with Rai.
Bastola, 31, of Urlabari Municipality-5 had died on December 20. Rajesh Ranapaheli, 32, of Urlabari-6, Rikesh Siva, 29, of Ratuwamai Municipality-10, Sudip Pariyar, 19, of Urlabari-6 and Deepesh Poudel, 31, of Gauradaha Municipality-9 have been charged with murder by the District Public Prosecutor's Office. The case was filed against Ramesh Giri, 60, of Urlabari-6 and Kumar Rai, 34, of Urlabari-9.
Apart from Rai and Darji, four others were earlier arrested by the police and kept in custody for 25 days. Police had filed a case against the four absconding defendants after they escaped on bail on January 20.
The issue was registered only after the agitation broke out
After finding the suspect dead on December 20, the relatives claimed that he had been killed. But police initially said there was no evidence of a murder.
After receiving a complaint of murder, the police submitted the investigation report to the District Public Prosecutor's Office. However, those arrested on suspicion of murder were released on bail after the office returned the file on January 20, saying there was not enough evidence.
The police did not give high priority to the incident as the deceased was a drug user and agitation was started against the dissolution of the House of Representatives. But after the accused was released, the relatives became dissatisfied with the police. On Sunday, the deceased's sister Sadiksha went live on social media after it was found that the photo of the deceased had been changed.
After her Facebook live went viral, they staged demonstrations in Urlabari on Monday and Biratnagar on Tuesday. The case was registered in the district court on Tuesday after the relatives chanted slogans saying that the role of the police was questionable.
'Postmortem shows murder'
Police have claimed that Praveen was killed. Morang Superintendent of Police Santosh Khadka said that the post-mortem report showed that Bastola was killed.
He said that a case has been registered against six persons for murder as they showed violent apexia in the post-mortem report. He said that the four accused had absconded after the agitation while the police was investigating.
According to him, the day before his death, Praveen had a dispute with hotel manager Rai and the balance was transferred from his mobile phone at midnight. He said the four were initially released following a directive from the public prosecutor's office as post-mortem and visa reports took time to arrive.
"Initially, the complaint was delayed. We have extended the term of the suspect in the case of indecent behavior," he said. "The accused cannot be detained for more than 25 days.
Superintendent of Police Khadka said that the police did not make any mistake in the investigation. He said that since there was a lot of evidence to show Praveen in the missile, the issue of changing a photo would not make much sense. Stating that a team has been formed under the leadership of Deputy Superintendent of Police Man Bahadur Rai to investigate the matter, he said that action would be taken if any wrongdoing was found after the report of the team.
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