Supreme Court orders police investigation against former Speaker Agni Sapkota

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has issued a writ of mandamus in favor of Purnimaya Lama in the long-running case against former Speaker and CPN (Maoist Centre) Vice Chair Agni Prasad Sapkota.

A constitutional bench comprising Chief Justice Prakashman Singh Raut and Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, and Dr. Kumar Chudal issued the order, overturning an earlier police decision to shelve the complaint.

Previously, the Court had ordered authorities to present details of the investigation. The latest order comes in response to a writ filed by Lama, who had named the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister’s Office, and five others as respondents.

The case had remained pending in the constitutional bench for years, making it one of the oldest unresolved constitutional matters before the court. The bench had recently resumed hearings to move the case toward a final verdict.

In related developments, the Court has dismissed another petition connected to the same incident, stating it lacked sufficient grounds, and rejected a separate writ entirely.

The writ petition, filed by Purnimaya Lama, has been pending before the court for over 14 years.

Lama is seeking an investigation into the alleged involvement of Agni Sapkota in the murder of her husband, Arjun Lama, a local businessman and chair of the school management committee of Shree Krishna Secondary School in Dapcha, Kavre.

Arjun Lama was reportedly abducted in April 2005, during the Maoist insurgency, from a school committee meeting.

Lama’s wife alleges that Maoist leaders Agni Sapkota, Suryaman Dong, Yadav Poudel, Bhola Aryal, Karnakhar Gautam, and Norbu Moktan were involved in the incident.

Although the case reached the decision-making stage during the tenure of former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, no verdict was issued at the time, as the hearing was deferred through other interim orders.

A similar situation occurred under Chief Justice Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, when the verdict was postponed twice before another order was issued.