[2013-01-28 / The Himalayan Times / RSS] JANAKPURDHAM: The 50th sacrifice day of the martyr Durgananda Jha, the first republican martyr of Nepal, is being commemorated today by organising various programmes.

Jha had thrown a bomb on Magh 9, 2018 BS saying King Mahendra had on December 15, 1960 scuttled democracy by dissolving the popularly elected parliament and the parliamentary government.

He had bombed the vehicle of the king which was in strict security of thousands of army and police at the Janaki Temple premises in Janakpur during his visit to the eastern Terai.

Jha soon went into exile in India, but did not think it right to be in exile when 59 people were arrested and beaten up in the name of the bomb incident while he was preparing for various movements, and therefore, returned to Nepal.

After three months of exile, he returned in Baisakh, 2018 BS and was detained at Central Jail in Sundhara, Kathmandu, after his arrest at Parbaha Railway Station.

He was shot dead at the jail after about three years at midnight on Magh 15, 2020 BS.

According to Aravind Thakur, arrested along with him, Jha, as he was prepared for death penalty, had said, “Do not worry, no one can stop republic now”.