The Janakpur High Court has issued a mandamus order to the District Police Office (DPO) in Mahottari to arrest the murder suspects of Armed Police Force (APF) officer Thaman BK.

Registrar at Janakpur High Court Man Bahadur Karki said the court would soon send a letter to the DPO, Mahottari with the details of the mandamus order.

Referring to the DPO’s reluctance to detain the accused as per the direction of the Mahotttari District Court, the provincial court also warned the Mahottari Police not to make ‘a mockery of law’.

The division bench of Judges Madhav Prasad Pokharel and Ravi Sharma issued the order in the name of the DPO Mahottari and its chief on Tuesday.

Province 2 Minister for Social Development of Province 2 Aviram Sharma, Mayor of Jaleshwor Municipality, Mahottari Ram Shankar Mishra and Provincial Assembly lawmaker from Mahottari constituency No-4 (A) Kaushal Raya are among 28 murder suspects involved in the killing of the APF Assistant Sub-Inspector Thaman BK.

They were charged with lynching the injured APF officer in Jaleshwor during the Madhes agitation on September 11, 2015. The suspects allegedly dragged the injured officer from an ambulance while being rushed to Janakpur for treatment.

Sharma and Mishra are the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal leaders while Raya won the provincial election on Sanghiya Samajwadi Forum-Nepal ticket.

The High Court ordered the arrest of all 28 accused involved in the murder. Sanjaya Sah and Pradip Sah residents of Mahottari are already in prison.

Soon after the killing, Thaman’s brother Prem Bahadur BK had lodged a complaint at the DPO, Mahottari against the 28 accused with their names.

Based on the complaint, the Mahottari District Court on March 10, 2016, ordered to present the arrested suspects before the court to take their statements and issued an arrest warrant against the other suspects who had fled. Thaman’s widow Shobha Gahatraj filed a writ petition at the Janakpur High Court on April 11, 2018 seeking a mandamus order as the DPO, Mahottari was reluctant to arrest the murder accused. She claimed that she filed the writ at the High Court after Mahottari police did not take any step to arrest the suspects.  

The murder suspects claimed that a false case was filed against them for having political ideology during the Madhes protest. They want the case to be withdrawn.