The Dhanusha District Court has convicted three individuals of murdering Dilip Kumar Mahato of Dhanusha.

A bench of Judge Chitra Bahadur Gurung found Bipin Mahato, Jitendra Mahato, and Munindra Mahato guilty of the crime on Wednesday.

Bipin and Munindra, who had been charged with intent-to-kill, will be handed either 25 years or life imprisonment, while Jitendra will have to serve half their sentence as a complicit in the crime.

The sentences will be levied on the perpetrators on 23 February by Judge Gurung, said District Court registrar Bikash Basnet.

The court, however, gave a clean chit to crusher operator Binod Mahato, and workers Satya Narayan Mahato, Shatrudhan Mahato, and Roshan Kumar Mahato who were also accused in the case.

Twenty-four-year-old Mahato, who had been protesting against illegal mining of Aurahi riverbed material for two years, was dragged and killed by a tipper truck in the wee hours on 10 January, 2020.

Following the incident, police had remanded four of the alleged perpetrators of the tipper attack in judicial custody for five days. The Dhanusha District Court had issued the order to keep the accused—Bipin Mahato, Munindra Mahato, Jitendra Mahato and Roshan Kumar Yadav—in custody pending a police investigation.