The Nepal government on Wednesday declined to name Land Reforms Minister Prabhu Shah,a supporter of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai,as an accused in a murder case. The office of the district government lawyer in Parsa that falls under the attorney generals office declined to include Shahs name in the murder case of Kashi Tiwari,a youth leader of Nepal Hindu Mahasangh,despite the district police insisting that the minister must be chargesheeted. The district court reportedly cited lack of adequate evidence. An investigation carried out by the Parsa Police had found that Shah was the mastermind in Tiwaris murder. However,Bhattarai has reportedly thrown his weight behind Shah,getting the attorney general a Maoist activist and the PMs nominee to the post to save his comrade. Kashi Tiwari,who had resisted the nationwide strike called by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist in May last year was gunned down a month later. Police investigation had found that Shah and his private secretary Shiyaram Kushwaha were the prime suspects in the case. Aman Kushwaha,a Maoist activist in the area who is in police custody,is believed to have confessed that he,along with Shiyaram,had carried out the murder on Shahs directive. Meanwhile,Tiwaris family members came to the capital to demand their safety as well as Shahs arrest.
