Kathmandu, March 14 -- The Supreme Court has directed the Nepal Police to start criminal investigations against 12 individuals, including the then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and then inspector general of Nepal Police, Sarbendra Khanal, in the 2019 killing of Kumar Paudel in Sarlahi district.

A division bench of justices Manoj Kumar Sharma and Shreekanta Poudel issued a writ of mandamus against the police, particularly the District Police Office, Sarlahi, to proceed with the probe. Kumar Paudel's family had moved the top court seeking its intervention.

"The division bench issued a mandamus order as requested by the victim's family," Arjun Prasad Koirala, spokesperson at the court, said. "The Sarlahi district police has been asked to...