If proven guilty, Mahara to face 7 years in jail, custody extended to 7 days for DNA analysis

KATHMANDU, Oct 31: Krishna Bahadur Mahara who was the Speaker of the House of Representatives currently in jail for the rape of government employee Roshani Shahi has denied undergoing a polygraph test. He said that due to his current deteriorating health he is unable to give the test.

Polygraph tests are usually given to criminals for major crimes where more critical evidence, the reasoning is sought from the accused. The test identifies whether the statements are accurate or being falsified. Mahara in his earlier statement had denied going to the place of crime the residence of the victim in Tinkune Kathmandu. This verification is now being attempted through the polygraph test.

For an individual to sit for the polygraph test he as to be aware and healthy. Since Mahara is in the hospital undergoing treatment for pressure and other ailments the Nepal Police stated that “they cannot apply pressure on Mahara to take this test due to his ill health. We would have had credible evidence had the polygraph test been allowed to happen.

Nepal Police in most gruesome criminal cases has utilized the polygraph test on the accused to ascertain facts and bring out further evidence that would help them to build up the case. The Nepalese courts similarly have allowed and supported the use of polygraph tests permitting the Police in most cases.

Forensic Report to be submitted today

Nepal Police had taken fingerprints of Mahara and will be submitting a report to the District government lawyer’s office by this evening. The report is currently classified as top secret, while the other investigative report was submitted earlier before the Tihar festival.

According to a local daily coverage Naya Patrika ( New Paper) Nepal Police had recovered glasses utilized to drink alcohol and obtained fingerprints. The Nepal Police will now match the fingerprints with the one taken from Mahara. Other items, an alcohol bottle, and Mahara’s spectacles will also be submitted as recovered evidence denoting his presence in the scene of the crime.

Case Filed

The Government lawyer’s office had prepared the case for submission to the district court which was completed today.  In cases, like these are a maximum time of 26 days is given to file a case and submit the accused to court. It has been 25 days since Mahara has been arrested from his official residence in Baluwatar.

A case has been filed against Krishna Bahadur Mahara at the district court. The court has ordered Mahara to provide his blood sample for DNA testing and instructed for 7 days further custody for the process to complete. If proven guilty, Mahara will go to jail as per the law for 7.5 years.