The Dhanusha District Court has issued arrest warrants against seven individuals, including Nepali Congress Dhanusha President Yogendra Panjiyar, in connection with a murder case linked to a drainage canal dispute.

According to the court, the warrants were issued on October 17 after the accused failed to appear for questioning. Those named in the warrant include Panjiyar, his son Amar Panjiyar, ward chair of Chhireswarnath Municipality-5, 60-year-old Jivachha Mandal, Mandal’s sons Kamal Mandal Dhanuk, 38, and Nawal Mandal, 40, Nawal’s son Neeraj Mandal, 22, and 38-year-old Umesh Yadav of Kshireswarnath-1 Ramdaiya.

The warrant was issued based on a complaint lodged by Sushil Kumar Chaudhary. The case has since gone viral on social media.

A few months ago, a clash erupted between local leaders affiliated with the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML following a dispute over a drainage canal. Both sides filed complaints against each other. While UML-affiliated leaders have already appeared in court, Congress-affiliated leaders failed to do so, prompting the court to issue the arrest warrants.

Meanwhile, the court said the criminal record system (CRS) verification of the absconding defendants in another attempted murder case filed by Ward Chair Mandal against UML members Rajdev Chaudhary, Sushil Kumar Chaudhary, Anil Kumar Chaudhary, Anil Yadav, and Anit Yadav is ongoing.