Journalist Khem Bhandari arrested for defamation in Nirmala Pant case

Journalist Khem Bhandari from Kanchanpur has been arrested. A team from the District Police Office detained him on Thursday morning from Bhimdatta Municipality-18, Katan, as part of enforcing a decision by the Kanchanpur District Court.

On 1 Jestha 2082, the Kanchanpur District Court found Bhandari guilty in a defamation case linked to the Nirmala Pant rape and murder incident. Judge Rajendra Singh Bhandari’s bench sentenced him to one month in prison for the offense.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court also ordered Bhandari to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 and compensation of Rs 100,000.

This case is connected to the Nirmala Pant incident. Kiran Bista, son of the then Kanchanpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Dilliraj Bista, filed the case against Bhandari, alleging that he wrote a news article falsely linking his name to the incident.

Kiran Bista, who filed the case, is also a journalist and works with the National News Agency.

On 2075 Shrawan 10, Nirmala Pant from Bhimdatta Municipality left home saying she was going to study at a friend’s house. She was found dead the next day in a sugarcane field by the banks of the Nimbukheda River.

The real perpetrator of this high-profile case, which involved rape and murder, has yet to be identified.