Jhapa District Court, on May 9, 2012, sent three persons accused of murdering journalist Yadav Poudel to the judicial custody.
Yuv Raj Giri, Som Lal Dhakal and his wife Phul Maya Karki also known as Manju were sent to the judicial custody as per the order issued by District Judge Giri Raj Gautam.
However, the Court ordered to release Madan Rai on general bail with Rs 27,000 deposit.
Rai, who was absconding after the murder, had surrendered before the police on April 19.
Earlier, on April 10, the police, after eight-day-long investigation, had found Yuvraj Giri guilty of the murder of journalist Yadav Poudel.
Yuvraj Giri, former chairman of hotelier's association in Jhapa district was preparing to be the publisher of a newspaper Ujjyalo Purva, keeping journalist Poudel as the editor.
Organizing a press meet on April 10, 2012, chief at the District Police Office, Superintendent of Police, Tarini Prasad Lamsal, said, "Our investigation has held Giri as the guilty."
As per the report, Giri pushed journalist Poudel from the third story rooftop of Hotel Purvanchal and Sekuwa Corner at Birtamod, Jhapa.
SP Lamsal had said after arresting absconding Madan Rai would divulge more about the murder.
Poudel, reporter with the Rajdhani national daily and the Avenues Television from Jhapa, a district in the southern plain in the east of Nepal, was killed on the night of April 3, 2012.
Freedom Forum hails the court order to mete out punishment to the journalist's murder.
update:
A welcome deed, Jhapa District Court on February 25, 2013 delivered a verdict awarding life imprisonment with confiscation of all properties to Yuvraj Giri, the main accused behind the murder of journalist Yadav Poudel, reporter with the Rajdhani daily and the Avenues Television.
Similarly, other accomplices as Phul Maya Karki (Manju) has been slapped three-year imprisonment while her husband Somnath Dhakal one year and Madan Rai six months.
A single bench of District Judge Giriraj Mani Gautam delivered the verdict.
Journalist Poudel who was also the Executive Editor of the Mechi Times daily published from Jhapa district was murdered near the Birtamod-based bus park in the night of April 3, 2012.
A permanent resident of Sijuwa, Morang, a district in the southern plain in the east of the country, had a decade long journalism career in the neighboring Jhapa district.
Freedom Forum welcomes the court verdict as it would obviously help deter further crimes, provide relief and justice to the agonized family and the moral boost to the fellow journalists who are working for professional journalism in different parts of the country. Also, it is a step forward on checking growing impunity in the country.
Background Story: Main accused Giri, following a minor dispute had pushed journalist Poudel down from the rooftop of a three-story hotel and left to death near the Birtamod bus park of Jhapa district. The hotel was owned by Manju and Somnath Dhakal.
Murderer Giri and journalist Poudel had dinner together in the night and were said to be together to discuss about the newspaper they were planning to publish, the probe team of the Freedom Forum said, adding Giri's plan to discuss about the publication of newspaper-Ujjyalo Purva- from the Nepali New
Year (April 13, 2012) turned into a maneuver to finish off journalist Poudel.
The probe team had concluded that the news journalist Poudel used to write against the social malpractices and evils in his area might be to the root cause of his murder.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022