The Nepal Police on Sunday arrested Durga Prasai, a crusader for the arrest and trial of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli in alleged corruption cases, under the cyber law.
The Kathmandu district court remanded Prasai to three days’ judicial custody against the police’s ten-day demand. In another similar incident, the police arrested Chhabi Lal Joshi, a former deputy inspector general of police who had assumed a senior executive role in a media company. A parliamentary committee found the company was involved in securing loans illegally from cooperative bodies and appropriating them.
The arrests occurred almost simultaneously after Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak instructed the police to act on the parliamentary committee report.
Rabi Lamichhane, a former deputy prime minister and chief of the Rashtriya Swatantra Party, the fourth largest in Parliament with 21 members, and 53 others implicated in the parliamentary committee report for cooperative fraud, are also likely to be arrested.
Durga Prasai (right) in early 2017, dining with Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli(centre) and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal(left). (Photo: Wikimedia)
Prasai, who has formed a ‘save culture and nationalism mega campaign’, was arrested by the police in the afternoon from his residence in Bhaktapur. “I will fight Oli till I have a drop of blood circulating in me,” he said.
A former Maoist guerrilla who later switched to Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, Prasai has been leading mass protests against Oli for the past two years. He has labelled Oli the “most corrupt” leader in the country and is seeking his arrest and trial.
Lamichhane’s imminent arrest and Prasai’s custody, which could have political repercussions, occurred the day after Prime Minister Oli left the country to lead the Nepali delegation at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
As Lamichhane awaits his arrest, prominent party leaders, led by Vice President Swarnim Wagle, are leaving for China on a two-week official visit. The parliamentary committee that investigated the cooperative scandal has identified 55 people involved in fraud and misusing the general public’s deposits.
Besides Lamichhane, the police have also named Dhan Raj Gurung, a former law minister, current parliamentarian, and vice chairman of the Nepali Congress, a major partner in the ruling coalition. However, the police have not yet spoken on whether Gurung will meet the same fate as Rabi.
