Senior Maoist leader Mahara receives conditional release

Kathmandu, March 22: Kathmandu, March 22: Vice-Chairperson of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), and former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, has been released today on a condition that he be present when summoned.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Monday had arrested Mahara in connection with the gold smuggling case.

Mahara was arrested on his way to Dang from Bhairahawa in the morning, and then flown to Kathmandu to produce at CIB. Investigation had started remanding him a four-days custody.

As recording his statement by a team of CIB and District Public Prosecutors Office, Kathmandu, completed today, he was released on guarantee of his elder son, Nirmal Mahara.

A commission formed under the leadership of former justice Dilli Raj Acharya to probe into gold smuggling had recommended filing a case against Mahara.

The government had formed the committee under pressure from the media as well as opposition parties after 61 kg gold that had been ‘cleared’ by the TIA customs, but apprehended by the police from Sinamangal area, nearly two km away from the airport.