Lawmaker-elect of Kailali constituency-1 Resham Chaudhary, the main accused in 2015 Tikapur incident, has taken the oath of office and secrecy on Thursday.

Federal Parliament Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara administered the oath to lawmaker Chaudhary, who is currently under custody in connection with the investigation of Tikapur incident, at meeting hall of Agriculture Committee in Singha Durbar, Kathmandu. He was brought to Singha Durbar from Dillibazar jail on a police van. He took his oath in Tharu language.

Chaudhary had been elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Kailali-1 from Rastriya Janata Party Nepal’s (RJP-N) ticket, securing more than double the votes of his closest rival Madan Kumar Shah of then CPN-UML.

Chaudhary’s spouse Ranjita Shrestha and son were also present during the swearing in ceremony.

Following the ceremony, Speaker Mahara and RJP-N leaders congratulated Chaudhary.

The oath ceremony of the Kailali-1 lawmaker initially slated for 11am was postponed for 3 pm as the Dillibazaar Jail administration was not made aware about the ceremony.

Chaudhary is the main accused in the lynching of eight police personnel and an infant in Tikapur of Kailali district of August 2015. He was on the run after being charge-sheeted for his alleged key role but later surrendered before Kailali District Court on February 26, 2018.