Durga Prasad Timsina (aka Dipak Jaisi), who was released from Dum Dum Central Correctional Home in Kolkata on Saturday, reunited with his 85-year-old mother after four decades.

The 60-year-old had been in an Indian prison without a proper trial for the last 40 years. He arrived at his ancestral home in Mai Municipality-10, Ilam on Sunday with Prakash Chandra, his cousin. Prakash Chandra had gone to India along with Indra Basnet, a representative of Biswa Sewa Bistar that supported his release, to receive him.

Timsina was welcomed by his mother Dhanmaya and other relatives and neighbours. Dhanmaya broke into tears as she held her son who quietly sat beside her.

“He had gone missing for years. We had searched for him everywhere but could not find him,” she said. “I’m finally at peace after seeing him.”

Timsina was released on Saturday following a verdict from a joint-bench of Kolkata High Court Chief Judge Thottathil B Nayar Radhakrishnan and Judge Anirudra Roy on Wednesday.

Timsina’s release was possible because of Radheshyam Das, who, after his release from Dum Dum Central Correctional Home in Kolkata last October, decided to help secure the release of Timsina. Das had shared a cell adjacent to Timsina.

A murder case had been filed against Timsina at the Darjeeling Police Office on May 11, 1980. Timsina was charged by Naine Ghale, his former landlord. Ghale, in his complaint, had accused Timsina of murdering his wife Junu Gurung. However, the complainant was not contacted later during the case investigations.

“I did not murder her (Junu). I had been framed for the murder,” said Timsina during a press meet upon his arrival in Kakadbhitta on Sunday.

The family had given him up for dead thinking that he might have died during the Gorkhaland uprising in the 1980s in Darjeeling.

It was only in November last year that the family came to know that he was in Dum Dum prison, after which his brother went to meet him.

Before Timsina was released, the court’s registrar made Prakash Chandra, the cousin, sign an agreement document on Friday stating that Timsina was to appear before the court after his ‘mental health improved’.

According to Timsina’s lawyer Sinha, Timsina should inform the Office of Consulate General of Nepal in Kolkata about his mental health every six months and this information will then have to be passed on to the Kolkata High Court.