Kathmandu, August 10:
The wife of a top Maoist leader will defend Charles Sobhraj against the charge of murder committed more than three decades ago.
Laxmi
Devkota, the wife of Maoist Constituent Assembly member Khimlal
Devkota, was in the court to defend Sobhraj today. However, she could
not submit her arguments, as the bench was hard pressed for time. The
next hearing of the case has been scheduled for August 18.
“Sobhraj
wants to establish cordial relations with the Maoists, who are likely
to lead the new government,†one of Sobhraj’s lawyers told this daily.
Sobhraj
had already appointed Shakuntala Thapa, the mother of his fiancée
Nihita Biswas, as his lawyer. Thapa is deemed close to Pampha Bhusal
and Hisila Yami.
During today’s hearing, senior advocate Basanta Ram
Bhandari told the bench, comprising justices Min Bahadur Rayamajhi and
Kalyan Shrestha, that Devkota would plead on behalf of Sobhraj in the
next hearing.
Bhandari accused the media of being biased against
Sobhraj and claimed that the investigating authorities had produced
forged documents before the SC. “He should not be deemed guilty based
on media reports,†he added. “We lawyers are also against setting free
a criminal but the media should be careful while reporting on a
sub-judice case,†he said.
When Justice Rayamajhi asked him to
justify his charge against the investigating authorities, Bhandari said
they were doing so under pressure. He claimed that International Police
Organisation’s Nepal branch was behind such fabrication and had been
producing fake documents.
He also blamed the investigating and prosecuting agencies for trying to mislead the apex court.
Another
Sobhraj lawyer blamed the prosecuting agencies for citing media reports
to press their case against Sobhraj. “There is neither any eyewitness
nor proper evidence against him,†he added.
Though the police
produced Sobhraj before the SC, he could not meet his fiancée, as she
had left after the hearing was adjourned.
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