Kathmandu, March 25
Police have arrested another Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal leader, a few days after it apprehended the group’s senior leader Hemanta Prakash Oli.
Ghanshyam Shrestha, the Koshi bureau in-charge of the group, was arrested along with Akash Sharma and one other CPN cadre. Police, however, declined to comment on the arrest.
Nepal Police has stepped up action against the splinter Maoist ground and its leaders and cadres who were banned from organising programmes or participating in rallies and assemblies. The government has heightened the security and launched a crackdown on the party following a blast outside the Nakkhu-based Ncell office on February 22, which killed one person and injured two. The government banned the party’s activities on March 12.
Nepal Police have confiscated two loaded pistols, explosives, ammunition and communication devices from Hemanta Prakash Oli, a standing committee member and in-charge of the mid-region command of CPN, and eight cadres of the outfit arrested from Kavre district on Saturday.
PM KP Sharma Oli speaking in Parliament on Sunday urged Chand and his party cadres to surrender their weapons or get prepared for more crackdowns.
