Victim's Details:
Name: Krishna Prasad Adhikari
Date of Incident: 6 June 2004
Age: 18 years
Address: Fujel VDC, Gorkha District

Perpetrator Details:

1. Chhabilal Poudel, 55, Fujel VDC-6, Gorkha
2. Januka Poudel
3. Meghnath Poudel, 57, Fujel VDC-4, Gorkha
4. Bishnu Tiwari, 40, Fujel VDC-4, Gorkha, Tiwari Village
5. Subhadra Tiwari, 48, Fujel VDC-7, Gorkha
6. Sita Adhikary, 30, Fujel VDC-7, Gorkha
7. Kali Prasad Adhikary, 50, Fujel VDC-7, Gorkha
8. Himlal Adhikary, 34, Fujel VDC-7, Gorkha (Kali's son)
9. Ram Prasad Adhikary, 27, Fujel VDC-7, Gorkha (Kali's son)
10. Ram Prasad Adhikary, 30, Fujel VDC-7, Gorkha
11. Bhimsen Poudel, 30, Jirauna, Ratnanagar Municiplaity, Chitwan
12. Parashuram Poudel a.k.a. Ajib, 35, Paras Buspark, Bharatpur Municipality-9
    

Summary:
On 6 June 2004, Krishna Prasad Adhikari, a resident of Fujel village of Gorkha District, was murdered in Chitwan District by Maoist cadres. Krishna Prasad was visiting his grandparents after having taken the SLC examinations, and he was abducted from Bakullahar Chowk by men who came on a motorcycle. Witnesses said that the victim was first tortured by Maoist cadre, with unconfirmed reports that he was dragged by a rope tied to the motorcycle. Later, the beaten up Krishna Prasad was brought back to Bakullahar Chowk, tied to a tree trunk and killed with three gunshots.

Details of the Incident and Developments:
On 6 June 2004, Krishna Prasad Adhikari, a resident of Fujel village of Gorkha District, was murdered in Chitwan District by Maoist cadres. Krishna Prasad was visiting his grandparents after having taken the SLC examinations, and he was abducted from Bakullahar Chowk by men who came on a motorcycle. Witnesses said that the victim was first tortured by Maoist cadre, with unconfirmed reports that he was dragged by a rope tied to the motorcycle.  Later, the beaten up Krishna Prasad was brought back to Bakullahar Chowk, tied to a tree trunk and killed with three gunshots. Father Nanda Prasad was informed by local Maoists in Gorkha the same day that Krishna Prasad had been taken and ‘eliminated’.

The family of Krishna Prasad believes that he was murdered in relation to a longstanding land dispute in Fujel. It is reported that the relatives of Nanda Prasad Adhikari (father of Krishna Prasad) had filed a case against the family before what was then a "village government" run by the Maoists on the same matter.

Nanda Prasad immediately filed a complaint to the Chitwan District Police Office asking for investigation into his son’s murder, pinpointing the alleged perpetrators. However, the police did not start investigations. The family subsequently approached the District Administration Offices of both Chitwan and Gorkha districts, the Gorkha District Police Office, the National Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, the Prime Minister's Office and the President's Office. Their frustration grew with the unwillingness of the police and administration to proceed with the case.  On 5 April 2009, the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal (NHRC) recommended to the Government of Nepal to provide the family with Rs. 300,000 as compensation, to rehabilitate them to their home and ensure their security and do criminal investigation on the case but successive governments turned their deaf ears to it.

As a last resort, Nanda Prasad and his wife Gangamaya Adhikari started staging fast-unto-death from January 2013 near Prime Minister's quarters, demanding justice for their son. The police arrested them many times and took them to Bir Hospital and other places and finally to Mental Hospital. After big hue and cry from the human rights organizations and mainstream media, they were discharged from the mental hospital and certified as normal people. They resumed their fast-unto-death and later the police took them to the emergency room of Bir Hospital. Their health condition grew worse by the day and they were taken to the Intensive Care Unit of the same hospital for further treatment. Both of them are still in the ICU of that hospital. Even if Khilraj Regmi, the ministers and influential officers visited the hospital and urged Nanda Prasad to end his fast, he refused to do so and told them curtly to work towards justice rather than harassing him now and again.

Meanwhile, Adhikari family's demand for justice was taken up by national and international organizations. National Human Rights Commission again instructed the government to investigate into the case.

Official Action:
12 August 2013: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) again urged the government to promptly investigate the case of Krishna Prasad Adhikari and implement its recommendation to book the guilty at the earliest.

14 August 2013: Chitwan district police office resumed investigation into Krishna Adhikari's case. Following Wednesday’s directives, the DPO sent case records on Adhikari’s death to the District Attorney’s Office, seeking legal advice to begin the investigations. “We will begin work after the attorney’s office responds,” Superintendent of Police Pradhyuman Karki said.

15 August 2013: The Chitwan District Police Office (DPO) received case records on the murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari that it had presented before the District Attorney’s Office (DAO), seeking legal advice for an investigation.

18 August 2013: The Chitwan District Police Office initiated investigation into the incident, six days after instructions issued by Nepal Police Headquarters.

19 August 2013: The police in Chitwan have cited legal obstacles to relaunch investigation into the murder of Krishna Adhikari, who was allegedly killed by the then Maoist rebels in 2004 on the charge of spying on their activities. According to the District Police Office, the dilemma to re-open the cold case file still exist as the case was closed earlier as per the Government Cases Act (1992).

25 August 2013: The Poilce in Chitwan has continued going ahead with the investigation. A seven member team under the command of DSP Sanjaya Bahadur Raut has been formed. The police have reached the incident spot and are interrogating the witnesses. Even if the District Attorney Office has so far failed to give a clear instruction to the police, the latter have proceeded with the investigation as per NHRC's instruction.

28 August 2013: Investigators are closing in on suspects behind the 2004 murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari. It is only a matter of time before they are arrested, Superintendent of Police (SP) Pradhyuman Kumar Karki of the Chitwan District Police Office said on Wednesday. He said investigators are trying to gather evidence to corroborate the involvement of the accused Maoist cadres in the incident.

29 August 2013: The investigating police team went to Fujel, Gorkha for further investigation into the case. The police have started recording statements from Krishna Prasad's neighbors, relatives and others. Preliminary information was collected from these people.

1 September 2013: Advocate Ramraj Shiwakoti filed a writ petition to the Supreme Court for saving the life of Nanda and Gangamaya Adhikari. The petition requests for court order in pursuant to Article 107(2) of the Interim Constitution.

2 September 2013: The UCPN (Maoist) Central Committee meeting, which concluded on Monday, endorsed a special proposal urging the government to form a TRC, arguing that reviving insurgency-era cases would be against the Comprehensive Peace Accord, which ended the Maoist armed insurgency. The meeting concluded that a section of society was actively conspiring against the party by reviving several insurgency era cases and the Adhikari couple´s fast was part of the same conspiracy. Prachanda challenged the government to arrest him and Baburam Bhattarai in the case, openly admitting that they had instructed their activists to murder Adhikari.

3 September 2013:

• The single bench of Justice Prakash Basti at the Supreme Court has issued an order to force-feed the Adhikari couple and also to make public the latest details of the investigation into the case.
• UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal urged chief of the election government Khila Raj Regmi not to arrest his party cadres accused of killings perpetrated during the insurgency period.
  

4 September 2013:

• The government released progress details of the investigation into the case. Even if the previous government had decided to not proceed with the case against Maoist leaders, this investigation has been taken ahead after the instruction of the NHRC and the investigation will be completed. It can be concluded that the government has not shown much seriousness about the investigation.
• Investigating police team informed that it is searching for the people pinpointed in the FIR as perpetrators. None of them has been arrested yet. The police conjecture that those pinpointed people must have run away from the village fearing arrest.
  

5 September 2013: The Supreme Court has ordered UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to furnish clarification over a contempt of court charge against him. A single bench of Justice Gyanendra Bahadur Karki on Thursday ordered Dahal to appear before the court in person within three days or to clarify in writing through a bearer of the power of attorney.

6 September 2013: Police arrested Ram Prasad Adhikari, one of the alleged perpetrators pinpointed in the FIR, from Baghbazaar, Kathmandu and took him to Chitwan the same day.

7 September 2013: After the arrest of one of the alleged perpetrators, Nanda Prasad Adhikari and Gangamaya Adhikari ended their fast and urged the government to nab all the perpetrators pinpointed in the FIR. They ended their fast at 1 am of 8 September.

8 September 2013:

• UCPN (Maoist) called for a bandh (strike) to protest the arrest of their activist Ram Prasad Adhikari but as the bandh hampered women's festival, Teej, women resisted the Maoist activists which made them withdraw the bandh.
• Chitwan District Court remanded Ram Prasad Adhikari to judicial custody for 10 days after the police produced him to the court. The judicial custody will be counted from 6 September.

10 September 2013: UCPN (Maoist) announced that its activists shall picket all 75 District Administration Offices around the country on 13 September protesting the arrest of their cadre Ram Prasad Adhikari.

16 September 2013: Chitwan District Court further remanded Ram Prasad Adhikari to 10 more days of judicial custody pending the investigation.

30 September 2013: Ram Prasad Adhikari was released on Sunday on the condition that he report to the authorities if his presence is needed for investigation. The Chitwan District Police Office on Friday submitted its report on the case to the District Attorney’s Office, recommending jail sentence for Ram Prasad and 10 other suspects who are at large. The attorney’s office, after studying the report, directed the police to release Ram Prasad, citing a lack of evidence for his indictment.

24 October 2013: Nanda Prasad and Ganga Maya Adhikari have decided to stage a fast-unto-death from Thursday after the government failed to book the murderers. Earlier, the couple had broken their 47-day fast-unto-death on September 8 after assurances from the government to book the culprits. However, Ram Prasad Adhikari, the prime accused in the murder, was released on September 30 after serving 25 days in police custody.

6 December 2013: Chitwan Police arrested Parashuram Poudel of Saradapur, Bharatpur on Friday. Poudel is one of the alleged perpetrators pinpointed in the FIR.

8 December 2013: Chitwan District Court on Sunday remanded Parshuram Poudel, one of the accused in the murder case of Krishna Prasad Adhikari, in police custody for 12 days. A single bench of judge Binod Mohan Acharya ordered the remand. Poudel was arrested from Bharatpur of Chitwan on Friday.

Meanwhile, UCPN (Maoist) leader Babruram Bhattarai on Sunday vented his ire on the government for arresting Parshuram Poudel in connection with the murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari during the insurgency in 2004.

19 December 2013: The District Court, Chitwan, has extended by 13 more days the remand of the murder accused, Parshuram Paudel, of Bharatpur Municipality-9.

30 December 2013: Today the Chitwan police released Parashuram Poudel from their custody. District public prosecutor's office cited lack of adequate evidence to keep Parashuram in custody and asked the police to release him.