GAUSHALA: Former CPN (UML) lawmaker Laxmi Mahato Koiri was arrested by police on Thursday in Mahottari district, just one day after the Janakpur High Court handed him a five-year prison sentence for his role in a 2015 murder.

A police team from the District Police Office, Mahottari, led by DSP Panchalal Gole, apprehended Koiri outside the CPN (UML) party office in Gaushala Municipality-5.

Koiri was taken into custody to immediately implement the court’s sentencing.

The arrest follows a major reversal by the Janakpur High Court on Wednesday.

A joint bench of Acting Chief Judge Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha overturned a previous December 2023 Mahottari District Court decision that had acquitted Koiri.

The High Court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to convict Koiri, along with suspended provincial assembly member Abhiram Sharma and four others, for facilitating the murder of Armed Police Force Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Thaman BK during the 2015 Madhesh Movement protests.

While Koiri and the other five facilitators received five-year prison terms, the High Court upheld the lifetime imprisonment sentences for the three primary attackers after forensic data and photographic evidence proved they physically assaulted the officer.

Koiri is currently being held at the District Police Office for final legal processing.