National
Rupandehi banda in protest of local trader’s killing
Normal life was affected in Rupandehi district as youth and student wings affiliated to the CPN-UML enforced an indefinite general strike on Saturday in protest of the murder of trader Basanta Paudel aka ‘Balu’.Normal life was affected in Rupandehi district as youth and student wings affiliated to the CPN-UML enforced an indefinite general strike on Saturday in protest of the murder of trader Basanta Paudel aka ‘Balu’.
The All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU) and the Youth Association called the strike, demanding action against the guilty. According to police, two unknown assailants had fired multiple shots at Paudel in Dhekabar of Devdaha Municipality in the district on Friday.
Vehicular movement along sections of the Eastwest Highway and the Siddhartha Highway has come to a grinding halt due to the banda. Banda enforcers also barred the vehicles from plying the inner roads of the district. Major cities of Rupandehi such as Butwal, Devdaha, Khaireni wore a deserted look due to banda.
UML-aligned youth association’s Rupandehi Chairman Bal Krishna Pandey said that they would continue the strike until the culprits of the murder were brought to book. The fatal attack on Paudel came a year after the murder of Durga Tiwari, district chairman of the Youth Association. Tiwari was also shot dead in Dhekabar.
Meanwhile, Bhairahawa police formed a seven-member probe team under DSP Dharma Raj Bhandari to investigate into the incident. Locals and media persons said that Manoj Pun, a gang leader believed to be operating from outside the country, had owned up the killing. Pun is also the main accused in the Tiwari murder case. It is believed that Pun is operating his gang from Malaysia.