KATHMANDU: Parliamentarian Tirthaa Gautam could not control her tears during a meeting of the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee this morning.

It so happened that lawmaker Gautam shed her tears when the meeting was discussing the issue of Kumar Paudel, Sarlahi in-charge of the Bilpav-led faction in what has been said was shot dead in a “police encounter’.

The meeting of the committee focused on the killing of Paudel as Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa claimed that he was killed in a clash with the police.

Speaking in today’s meeting, Home Minister Thapa reiterated the government’s claims that Paudel was killed in police retaliation after four of the Chand cadres riding on two motorcycles opened fire on them.

Paudel died on the spot on Thursday following a gunfight with the police near Lalbandi, police have said. However, Chand-led faction has termed Paudel’s death an extrajudicial killing saying that he was killed after being taken under control.

Lawmakers, both from the ruling party and the opposition, including Nepal Communist Party lawmaker Janardhan Sharma, criticized the police action dubbing the incident as “fake encounter’.