A senior Maoist leader Matrika Yadav

The Patan Appellate Court today postponed the process of recording statement of senior Maoist leader Matrika Yadav in a murder case due to his poor health.

Yadav was produced before the court this morning but the court adjourned the recording of his statement and asked the authorities to present him before the court after the Dashain vacations.

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 in connection with a murder case filed by the government against them for their alleged involvement in the killing of the then Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Armed Police Force Krishna Mohan Shrestha in January 2003.

The court took Magar’s statement on Friday.

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.