Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire on Sunday lifted the suspension of UML lawmaker Laxmi Mahato Koiri. The suspension was lifted after the federal lawmaker was acquitted by a court in a murder case.

The district court in Mahottari on December 14 acquitted Koiri, a member of the House of Representatives, elected from the CPN-UML, in the 2015 murder of an Armed Police Force (APF) officer.

Padma Prasad Pandey, acting general secretary of the federal parliament, in a notice, said the suspension of the lawmaker was lifted as per Rule 248 (5) of the House of Representatives Regulation 2023.

Koiri was suspended as a lawmaker in May this year following a letter from the Nepal Police seeking the Speaker’s support to arrest the UML lawmaker, who had been absconding for months.

Despite being on the police’s wanted list, Koiri attended the House meeting on January 10 and voted in favour of a trust motion tabled by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Before that, he had also attended the oath-taking ceremony of new lawmakers elected through the last year’s polls.

Koiri, who was elected to the federal parliament from Mahottari-1 in November 2022, was accused of murdering Assistant Sub Inspector Thaman BK. A murder case was filed against 28 people including Koiri while 25 others were also accused of arson.

Koiri was accused of dragging the policeman from a police van and killing him on September 11, 2015 in Jaleshwar of Mahottari. The Dhanusha District Court had released Koiri on a bail of Rs100,000. But the Janakpur High Court, overturning the decision of the district court, had issued an arrest warrant against him.