The Kathmandu district court on Wednesday started hearing on the kidnapping and hostage taking case filed against former minister Shyam Sundar Guypta and five of his accomplices for kidnapping businessman Pavan Kumar Sanghai on December 22.

A single bench of the district court will now decide whether or not to keep abduction accused Gupta and his accomplices in judicial custody or release them on bail until sufficient evidence is collected to indict them in the case.

The police have already made public the initial audio-visual proof of Gupta’s link with abduction of businessman Sanghai.  However, Gupta has been denying his involvement in the incident.

Sanghai had returned home safely two weeks later after paying hefty ransom. Although, his family tried to keep the amount of ransom a secret, police source believe he paid millions of rupees to secure release. nepalnews.com