31 May 2011. Despite victim family’s plea for life imprisonment, the District Court of Chitwan has convicted ex-Brigade Commander of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Govinda Bahadur Batala to a three-year imprisonment today for his alleged involvement in murder of Ramhari Shrestha, a restaurateur from Kathmandu.
Single bench of Justice Bhojraj Adhikari issued the order against Batala, who has already served the aforesaid sentence while the case was under consideration in court.
Four other defendants of the case -PLA Division Commander Kali Bahadur Kham alias “Vividh” , Brigade Commander Keshav Adhikari alias “Raghu”, Assistant Battalion Commander Gangaram Thapa alias “Atom”, Battalion Commander and Section Commander Arjun Karki alias “Sankalpa” – are still on the lam.
Victim’s wife Ramila Shrestha had registered an FIR on 21 May 2008 with legal assistance from Advocacy Forum.
