Senior Advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari on Wednesday lodged a complaint at the District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu, and sought security protection saying he received death threats from Chief Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli.

In his complaint, Bhandari, who defended Dr Govinda KC in a contempt of court case, stated that CJ Parajuli issued death threat to him first on January 10 after the conclusion of hearing on the contempt of court case. Bhandari claimed Parajuli threatened him again last Thursday after his article about the CJ was published in a national newspaper. “I received a call from the mobile number of Parajuli. He threatened me,” said Advocate Bhandari.

After lodging the complaint with Chief District Officer (CDO) of Kathmandu Kedar Nath Sharma, Bhandari visited Kathmandu Police Range, Teku to discuss the death threats. In the meeting, chief of the range Senior Superintendent of Police Rabindra Singh Dhanuk assured Bhandari protection. “I will be provided with a PSO, while the case will now be handled by Baneshwor Police,” Bhandari said. “Police have also informed me they have sought telephone call details of CJ Parajuli to investigate the matter.”

It is learnt that Bhandari was constantly nagged by CJ Parajuli to settle the issue between him and Dr KC. “Even when Dr KC was arrested on January 8 on the charge of contempt of court, CJ Parajuli had asked me to go slow during the hearing while assuring that he would set the doctor free,” Bhandari said. He also confirmed that he had multiple meetings with CJ Parajuli relating to the case of Dr KC.

Bhandari claimed he was forced to seek refuge at the CDO Office after unidentified persons barged into his office and threatened him on Tuesday. He said around six persons came to his office in Sankhamul and threatened him to stop writing and speaking against CJ Parajuli. They even warned Bhandari that they would “eliminate him” unless he relented to them.

CJ Parajuli was not immediately available for comment.

The Supreme Court has not given remarks about Parajuli threatening Bhandari. Parajuli’s secretariat also declined to comment, saying that Parajuli was busy in a meeting of the Judicial Service Commission. Spokesperson for SC Narayan Panthi was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.

Dr KC files RTI

Kathmandu: Dr Govinda KC on Wednesday filed a Right to Information (RTI), demanding a copy of CJ Parajuli’s citizenship. Dr KC submitted the RTI application at the Chief District Office, Kathmandu. Chief District Officer (CDO) Kedar Nath Sharma said he would review the application and act accordingly. After submitting RTI application, Dr KC said his fight for an independent judiciary would continue. “I respect independence of judiciary. However, I am against CJ Gopal Parajuli who has impacted the justice delivery. He has always acted at the behest of medical mafias,” said Dr KC. A Supreme Court decision on January 11 had asked the DAO, Kathmandu to present CJ Parajuli’s citizenship documents after hearing to the claims by Dr KC that he had forged his citizenship.