Mohammad Aftab Alam has been remanded in judicial custody after his formal trial came to an end on Friday. The Nepali Congress lawmaker was in police custody since his arrest in connection with an explosion and the subsequent murder of at least 23 people in Rautahat 12 years ago.

Gunaraj Parajuli, the registrar of the Rautahat District Court, said that the court has sent Alam to prison after the end of the formal trial. “The judge gave a verdict to send accused Alam to prison on the basis of the evidence available with the court,” he said.

After the end of the formal trial, Judge Deepak Dhakal had asked victim Shree Narayan Singh and defendant Alam about the incident. Both of them had presented their own voices to the judge.

On Monday, Gauri Shankar Ram Chamar, one of the witnesses in the trial of Alam, had filed a written testimony at the Rautahat District Court, claiming that he was injured when a cooking gas cylinder went off at his home. However, on Tuesday, Chamar, who is currently under police protection, retracted his statement, saying that he had testified under duress.

The District Court had begun a formal trial on Alam’s case on November 7. The Rautahat District Attorney’s Office had filed a charge sheet against Alam, demanding his life imprisonment.

Alam was arrested on October 13 for his involvement in a bomb blast in Fradahawa, Rajpur, in the district on April 9, 2008. Police had registered ‘attempted murder’ and ‘holding, transporting explosive materials’ charges against him, and 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.