Senior Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) leaders Chandra Prakash Gajurel and Mohan Baidya along with 15 others were released on Thursday after all charges against them were withdrawn.
The withdrawal orders were issued by four different courts in Jalpaiguri district and Siliguri after public prosecutors submitted petitions for the same following the state government’s November 22 order to withdraw all cases against them.
Their release comes at a time when the CPN(M) and Seven Party Alliance in Nepal has entered into an agreement to continue the peace process.
The Maoist leaders were released from Jalpaiguri Central Jail at 7.45 pm and escorted up to the Nepal border. In Kakarvitta, on the Nepalese side, hundreds of people waited for their "national heroes"
Later, the two leaders said that the withdrawal of charges against them was a victory for the revolutionary movement in Nepal.