The District Court in Rautahat began a formal trial on Mohammad Aftab Alam’s case on Thursday.

The trial is underway in accordance with a charge sheet filed against Mohammad Aftab Alam, a Nepali Congress lawmaker who was arrested in connection with an explosion and the subsequent murder of at least 23 people in Rautahat. The incident took place 12 years ago.

The Rautahat District Attorney’s Office had filed the charge sheet against Alam, demanding his life imprisonment. Gunaraj Parajuli, the registrar at the District Court, said that the court has started the hearing of the case as per the charge sheet presented by the District Attorney’s Office. He said, “Government attorneys will only argue in the trial on Thursday.”

Alam was arrested on for the murder charges on October 13 and has been in police custody since. Police had registered ‘attempted murder’ and ‘holding, transporting explosive materials’ cases against Alam. He faces charges of burning injured people alive in a brick kiln "to destroy evidence".

Alam was elected to the federal parliament from Rautahat-2 in the 2017 elections.