Nagarik Unmukti Party’s lawmaker Arun Chaudhary was released from Kailali prison on Sunday after he was pardoned by the President.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday pardoned 395 convicts and those serving jail terms as per the government’s recommendation on the occasion of Democracy Day.

Chaudhary was doing time for arson.

Police on February 3 had arrested Chaudhary because he had yet to serve the jail term associated with his conviction. He was absconding for a decade now, according to police.

The Kailali district court in April 2013 had convicted Chaudhary for torching a tractor belonging to a private individual in August 2009. The court had imposed six months of jail along with a fine of Rs900,000 on him. He hadn’t served the jail term nor had paid the fine.