Bara police release Maoist murder convict

September 1, 2017 03:12 AM


BARA, Aug 31: A CPN (Maoist Center) cadre who was pronounced guilty of murder by the district court of Bara, has been let free instead of being jailed, it has come to light.

The district court had slapped 20 years jail term on Ashok Kumar Sah Kalwar of Barainiya village, Bishrampur Rural Municipality-2. However, lured by financial inducement and under pressure from Home Minister Janardan Sharma, Bara police let him walk free after detaining him for a night, various sources have claimed.

Upon learning that Kalwar was in his own village, the District Police Office (DPO), Bara, had instructed Chhatawa Police Post to arrest him. Following the instruction, Kalwar was arrested on August 21. However, the police released him the next day, an officer of the police post confirmed.

“We managed to arrest Kalwar on August 21 and handed him over to a team of police from the DPO,” said Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Nanda Kishor Singh, in-charge of the Chhatawa Police Post. “Although we handed Kalwar over to the DPO, he was freed the next morning after the DPO fell for a bribe of Rs 1 million. Home Minister Janardan Sharma's direct instruction also triggered his release,” he added.

Police personnel of the Chhatawa post said the locals obstructed them when they had reached the village to arrest Kalwar. They informed Republica that they were forced to open fire to disperse the agitated locals.

Following the release of Kalwar under financial temptation and Home Minister's intervention, police officers of the DPO are dissatisfied with Legal Section's Police Inspector Deepak Shah and ASI Raj Kumar Baidawar for their involvement.

However, ASI Baidawar claimed they had instead arrested another person with the same name. “Another person with the name Ashok Kumar Sah was arrested after we received complaint against him for violence against women. We took him under control and released him after interrogation,” he said.

Kalwar was accused of murder of Lalbabu Lohar Thakur in 2001. He was found guilty by the then Appellate Court of Hetauda and Supreme Court. The Hetauda court convicted him of the murder on November 10, 2014 while the Supreme Court sentenced him to 20 years jail on August 12, 2016.

Immediately after Kalwar was arrested and brought to Kalaiya, six district and central level leaders of CPN (Maoist Center) reached the police office to pressure for his release. They had pressurized ASI Badaiwar and Legal Section's Inspector Shah to release Kalwar. According to Maoist leaders, Kalwar is a Maoist cadre close to Maoist leader Prabhu Sah, who is also currently the Minister for Urban Development.


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