Kavrepalanchok District Court has reopened the Maina Sunar murder case, which was put on hold two years ago. The bench of Judge Awani Mainali Bhattarai on Tuesday ordered that the case be reopened since the time limit for keeping it on hold had ended as per court protocol. The court had put the case on hold stating that the defendants were absconding. According to Kavrepalanchok District Court Registrar Hiranya Prasad Bhandari, the case will reopen and regular hearings on it will take place. Following the court order, a verdict in the case will be handed down even if the defendants do not appear in court. Since the defendants did not appear in court in the two years' time given for the purpose, they will not have any right to appeal against the court verdict. The district court has reopened the case in response to a petition filed by Maina's mother, Devi Sunar. The government attorney had filed the murder case on January 31, 2008, at Kavrepalanchok District Court, on the basis of a written complaint lodged by Devi Sunar on November 13, 2005, against Nepal Army (NA) Colonel Boby Khatri, Major Niranjan Basnet and Captains Sunil Prasad Adhikari and Amit Pun. NA later said it had taken Maina, a schoolgirl, from her home on February 17, 2004, because her mother had helped the then rebel Maoists. Though NA initially denied detaining Maina, it later admitted that she had died in custody. NA had been claiming that it had formed its own Court of Inquiry on March 14, 2005, to investigate the case. NA claimed that the Court of Inquiry led by Major General Kiran Kumar SJB Rana had convicted Khatri, Adhikari, and Pun and sentenced them to six-month jail terms each. Likewise, the Court of Inquiry had barred Khatri's promotion for two years and that of Adhikari and Pun for one year. However, Major Basnet was acquitted. The army made the verdict public only after one year. It is said that Adhikari and Pun resigned following the verdict. Maina's mother had also filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court over the delay by Nepal Police in investigating the murder case. Following this, NA had disclosed the verdict of the Court of Inquiry. By that time, Kavre District Police Office had exhumed the remains of Maina's body, on March 23, 2007. On September 18, 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the police to complete its investigations and file a case at the district court. The police filed the case at district court only after the Supreme Court order. Responding to the case, the district court had ordered the defendants twice in 2008 to appear in court within 70 days. It was later learned that Basnet was still serving with the Nepal Army, which has refused to hand him over to the police.