Court defers recording Yadav's statement

Kathmandu,Oct 2-The Patan Appellate Court today adjourned the process of recording the statement of senior Maoist leader Matrika Yadav in connection with a murder case filed by the government against him for their alleged involvement in the killing of the then IGP of Armed Police Force in January 2003.
Yadav was produced before the court this morning but the court adjourned recording his statement. Yadav and another senior Maoist leader Suresh Ale Magar were produced before the court on Friday for the first time after their arrest some 20 months ago.
Now Yadav's statement will be recorded after Dashain festival only, according to court sources.
Another Maoist leader Suresh Ale Magar and Yadav were produced before the court on Friday in connection with their alleged involvement in the killing of Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Armed Police Force (APF) Krishna Mohan Shrestha, his wife and a body guard in January 2003, in Lalitpur.
The court recorded Ale's statement on Friday in which Ale had denied his involvement in the killing of the IGP Shrestha.
The court took Magar's statement on Friday. Magar has denied his involvement in the killing of the then IGP Krishna Mohan Shrestha. He told the bench that he was not in Kathmandu when the former police chief was killed.
The two are in police custody on charge of killing Shrestha on January 26, 2003. The two Maoist leaders, along with Maoist supremo Prachanda, Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ and Baburam Bhattarai, have been charged with murder by the government for the killing of Shrestha, his wife and a bodyguard in the shootout carried out by suspected Maoists in Lalitpur over two-and-a-half years ago.
The government has demanded maximum punishment for the accused under the clause 3 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Control Ordinance. The two leaders have been kept in detention under the same ordinance.
The two leaders were arrested one year and eight months ago from Lucknow, India, and were handed over to the Nepali authorities.