The Supreme Court on Sunday handed over Raj Kumar Timilsina, who had reportedly provided a ‘fake’ audio to a news website, to police.

A division bench of apex court justices Hari Prasad Phuyal and Mahesh Sharma Paudel had summoned Timilsina to testify before the court after Yubraj Kandel, publisher of Sidha Kura, told the court that Timilsina provided them with the controversial audio.

The bench, while hearing a contempt of court case, ordered to hand over Timilsina to the police through the registrar after his statement was not completed. His statement will continue on Monday, the court said.

Similarly, publisher Kandel and executive editor Nabin Dhungana of the website have been asked to appear before the court on Monday as well.

During an initial hearing on April 29, the apex court concluded that the audiovisual content published on sidhakura.com, a Kathmandu-based news website, was prima facie a malicious attempt to defame the judiciary, obstruct the judicial proceedings and scandalise the court.

The website had aired the content claiming that the chairpersons of two leading media houses were part of a meeting with the incumbent and former Supreme Court justices and senior advocates to dismiss over 400 corruption cases in the court. The April 21, 2021 verdict was part of the deal, it had claimed. However, the court has found the claim to be baseless.

After a hearing, the top court had directed Kandel and Dhungana to be present at the court with evidence to substantiate their reports and to answer why they shouldn’t be booked for contempt of court.

The petition has demanded a maximum punishment against Kandel and Dhungana and their team members in a contempt of court case.

The top court launched a suo moto contempt of court case against the publisher and the editor for allegedly publishing defamatory content against one of its justices.

Media organisations including the Press Council Nepal, Media Society Nepal and the legal fraternity had immediately condemned the website for publishing baseless content.