Kathmandu, February 17
After the Kathmandu District Court acquitted him of an attempt to rape charge, former speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara has been released from his judicial custody at Dillibajaar Prison.
Dozens of leaders and cadres of the ruling Nepal Communist Party welcomed him.
(Updated at 4:45 pm)
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Kathmandu, February 17
The Kathmandu District Court on Monday acquitted former House of Representatives speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara of an attempt to rape charge. Following the verdict, the ruling Nepal Communist Party leader is likely to be released today itself.
The court had sent him to judicial custody on November 4 last year. Since then, he was in Dillibajaar Prison in the capital. However, a single bench of judge Amar Raj Paudel today gave him a clean chit.
A court staffer, Ananda Shrestha, says the judge made the decision to acquit Mahara as the alleged victim gave statements against the allegation whereas some forensic examinations also did not support the government attorney’s claim. The full statement of the verdict has not been made public.
After being accused of trying to rape a staffer at the Federal Parliament Secretariat, Mahara had resigned from his position in the first week of October last year. He was arrested for investigation in the same week.
Though Mahara, as well as the alleged victim, denied the charge later, the government attorney had filed the case based on the available circumstantial evidence.
