JOIN USPramod Shah, a scrap collector from Motihari in Bihar, was arrested yesterday on charges of a rape attempt on the seven-year-old daughter of his landlord in Lokanthali in eastern Kathmandu.
As the news of the incident spread, the angry crowd of about 200 people gathered and thrashed 39-year-old Shah. When police intervened the locals clashed with them. Police fired four rounds of tear gas shells to disperse them.
Ten locals were injured in the clash.
The locals tried to take away the accused away from the police and battled the forces for more than half an hour. Additional police forces have been sent from Kathmandu to the area to control the situation.
Shah is currently in custody and further investigation is underway, said Police Sub-Inspector Anil Pundit.
Three Nepalese youths, who were wrongly identified as child abductors, were beaten to death by the locals in nearby Pepsikola area of Bhaktapur district last week.