KATHMANDU: Baiju Prasad Gupta (Deepak), the chair of Palhinandan Rural Municipality in Nawalparasi, has been sentenced to one year in prison in a drug-related case.
A bench led by Judge Keshav Prasad Adhikari at the Nawalparasi District Court handed down the verdict on Thursday, sentencing Gupta to one year in prison along with a fine of Rs 200,000.
The court had previously found Gupta and another individual guilty on March 05.
In addition to the prison sentence and fine, Gupta has been ordered to deposit Rs 8,000 into the victim relief fund as compensation.
Meanwhile, another convict in the case, Raghunath Prasad Dhobi, has been sentenced to two years in prison and fined Rs 400,000.
According to the law, drug-related offenses can lead to imprisonment ranging from two to ten years and fines between Rs 100,000 and Rs 2 million.
Court information officer and section officer Bhesh Raj Khanal confirmed that the two individuals were found guilty and sentenced accordingly.
Case background
This case, which had been ongoing since October 10, 2022, was concluded after 57 hearings.
Among the accused were Palhinandan Rural Municipality Chair Gupta, Jitendra Paswan, Raghunath Prasad Dhobi, Rama Gupta (also known as Rama Sah), and Mantu (also known as Bivek Prasad Pandey).
Of them, Gupta and Dhobi were convicted and sentenced.
The District Police Office had filed the case in October, 2022, alleging that they were involved in the illegal trade of 90 units each of Diazepam, Nurofen, and Phenergan.
Gupta had won the local elections in 2022 from the CPN (Maoist Centre), securing 4,351 votes. His closest competitor, Nepali Congress candidate Rajendra Sahani, received 3,865 votes.
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