October 20, Kathmandu
Recently, police are arresting high-profile leaders on charges ranging from rape or attempt to rape to murder. KP Oli’s government is giving a clear message to Nepalis that he is serious in keeping law and order in the country.
Ex-Minister Mohammad Aftab Alam, a member of parliament from the main opposition party – Nepali Congress, has been arrested on murder charges on October 15. Currently, he is in police custody.
DSP Nabin Karki and his team arrested Alam from Rautahat. Police are investigating an explosion that occurred in 2008, which is possibly related to Alam. As people claim that the explosion took place in Aftab’s home while people were making bombs on the direction of Aftab. Aftab was aiming to use those bombs to seize booths on Constituent Assembly election.
Eight persons are said to have been badly injured in that explosion. According to the police charges, Aftab Alam killed the injured persons. In fact, he incinerated the injured in a brick kiln that Aftab’s kin owned.
People are raising questions as to why it took the government more than 12 years to arrest an individual charged with murder. This also points to corruption in the state machinery where the powerful can get away with any crime. This is quite troublesome.
As this case involves a powerful politician, there have been claims and counterclaims to all the allegations. Several presses have reported that current head of Nepali Congress party, Sher Bahadur Deuba labelled this arrest as a conspiracy. However, he retracted his statement later calling for a fair investigation.
In the latest twist, Aftab has declined to take a polygraph test in regards to this incident.
[…] optimism in the country after some high profile arrests in the country, Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Mohammad Aftab Alam. This incident has again diminished the faith of Nepalis on the state’s security apparatus. […]