A single bench of Justice Rajesh Kumar Kafle, who had been deferring the hearing dates earlier, acquitted Singh of all charges during the hearing that concluded at 9:45 pm on Monday.

Following the verdict, the daughters, family and relatives of Maharjan broke down into tears. "So then, where is my mother?" said Sudha, daughter of Maharjan, "The court itself has done injustice to us."

The hearing of Chhori Maiya's case prolonged after the then Justice Bal Krishna Upreti, who was hearing the case, was transferred from Kathmandu along with every other Justices of the Kathmandu District Court. Upreti had slated September 20, 2013 as the date for the final verdict.

The court didn't disclose the hearing dates citing that the new justices were being assigned their respective cases. In the end, Justice Kafle was given the responsibility of hearing the case of Chhori Maiya.

Chhori Maiya went missing on February 28, 2012 after leaving her Jaisideval-based house to meet Surakshya Singh alias Nikki at the latter’s rented apartment in Baneshwor.

Police investigations later revealed that Nikki had borrowed nearly Rs 5 million from the Maharjans. Based on available evidence, police had taken Nikki into custody for preliminary investigations.

On the day Chhori Maiya disappeared, Sudha had received a text message from her mother saying she would be returning home the next day as she had gone to Manakamana with her friends.

That was the last message as she never came back. The family enquired about Chhori Maiya with Nikki, who informed them that she would be back in a couple of days. The family filed a complaint with the police after Chhori Maiya never showed up.