Hearing on writ peititon against Agni Sapkota postponed

KATHMANDU, Jan 26: The Supreme Court (SC) has postponed the hearing on a writ petition filed against Agni Sapkota, who is set to be elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives unopposed on Sunday.

A single bench of justice Hari Phuyal was scheduled to conduct the hearing the petition today afternoon. However, the bench could not hear on the case since Phuyal was one of the lawers who had advocated on a case against Sapkoata on behalf of a victim, according to the SC.

Earlier on Friday, Advocate Dinesh Tripathi had filed a writ petition at the apex court seeking Sapkota’s arrest arguing he was a “murder-convict” and thus “not eligible” to hold the position of the Speaker.

Sapkota has been accused of abducting and murdering Arjun Bahadur Lama, a residence of Karvepalanchowk district in 2005.

Reports have claimed that Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana, despite being aware, had assigned the hearing to Phuyal so that hearing on his case would not take place paving way for his announcement as the new speaker.

Also Read: Agni Sapkota is not a murder convict: Ram Narayan Bidari