National
One of accused admits to killing
One of the accused in the murder of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya has admitted to committing the crime.Shyam Sundar Shashi
One of the accused in the murder of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya has admitted to committing the crime.
During a hearing at Dhanusha District Court on Monday, Manak Lal Thokar, also known as Manak Lama, admitted his involvement in the murder of Singhaniya in 2010, saying he had opened fire on the media entrepreneur as per instructions from Rambinod Yadav. He told the court that suspended lawmaker Sanjay Kumar Sah too was involved in the crime.
After the hearing, Judge Narayan Prasad sent Manak in judicial custody.
Singhaniya, chairman of Janakpur Today Communications Group, was shot dead at Shiva Chowk in Janakpur on March 1, 2010.
Of the six suspects presented at the court, Manak was the only one to admit his involvement in the murder.
Manak claimed that Bishal Lama and two unidentified other persons were also involved in the killing.
Police had filed chargesheet against 11 people, including suspended lawmaker Sah, in the court in March in connection with the murder. Names of Bishal and the other two in question were not mentioned in the chargesheet though.
As per the information received from the court and Dhanusha police, Manak told the court that Eklal Sahani had lured him into killing “the target” with an offer of Rs 800,000 to one million for the job. According to him, Sahani had assured him that there was no risk of arrest as he would be “doing the job for lawmaker Sah”.
Manak said he had gone to a hotel at Mills Area with Sahani in the morning of March 1, 2010 and drank with five other people who were staying there. Then they went to Sah’s party office where Sahani introduced him with Rambinod Yadav as a close aide to lawmaker Sah.
Rambinod then handed him a weapon, said Manak, adding that he and three others had spent the night at the party office after the crime.
According to Manak, Rambinod had arranged a vehicle, which carried a government registration plate, to drop him home. He told the court that Bishal, Sahani and one more individual who he did not know had used that vehicle while fleeing from Janakpur. Manak, a resident of Dhanushadham Municipality-6 in Dhanusha district, was arrested from Biratnagar on Friday.
After the incident, Manak had gone to Malaysia using a passport issued in the name of Kiran Limbu. He returned to Nepal six months ago and had been staying with his wife in Biratnagar since.
According to SP Ramdutta Joshi, a murder case was filed against suspended lawmaker Sah, Manak, Chandradeep Yadav, Eklal Sahani, Om Prakash Yadav, Mukesh Chaudhary, Amshi Rain, Rambinod Yadav, Dipendra Kushiyat Yadav, Pawan Lama, Ramkaran and one more person for killing Singhaniya.
Suspended lawmaker Sah is yet to record his statement in the court. The court has remanded Charandip Yadav and Sahani in custody.