Former PM Oli remanded in judicial custody for 5 days as protests continue across Nepal

Kathmandu: Nepal's former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was remanded in judicial custody for five days by the Kathmandu District Court on Sunday, even as protests continue to erupt in various parts of the country over the arrests. 

Oli and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested on Saturday for their alleged involvement in suppressing the Gen Z movement of September 8 and 9 last year, in which 76 people, including around two dozen youths, were killed.

The arrests came a day after the newly formed Balendra Shah government decided to implement the report of the probe commission into the Gen Z protests in its first cabinet meeting.

Lekhak was presented before the district court seeking remand for ten days to carry out further investigation into their alleged involvement in the incidents of killings.

He was also remanded in custody for five days.  However, ex-PM Oli virtually attended the district court session due to his deteriorating health conditions, according to Deepak Kumar Shrestha, information officer at the district court.

Oli is currently undergoing medical treatment at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, as his health conditions deteriorated when he was taken to the hospital on Saturday for a health check-up following the arrest.

"He is a post renal transplant patient with hydronephrosis, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypothyroidism, atrial fibrillation with APC (on treatment) and cholelithiasis," reads a statement issued by the hospital.

He will remain in the hospital during the five-day custody.

Workers of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Lennist) held a protest in Maitighar against the arrest of the party chair, Oli.

The CPN-UML has submitted a protest letter to the District Administration Offices (DAOs) across the country, including Kathmandu, to oppose the arrests.

Oli’s party has been staging protests across the country demanding the immediate release of Chairman KP Oli since Saturday.

In the memorandum, the party has objected to the recommendation of the probe commission formed to investigate the incidents of September 8-9, to take legal action against high officials, including Oli and Lekhak.

A separate habeas corpus has been registered at the Supreme Court demanding the release of former PM Oli and then Home Minister Lekhak, according to the court's sources.

In another development, Nepal police on Sunday arrested former energy minister and Nepali Congress leader Deepak Khadka in connection with a money laundering case, local media reported.

The police detained Khadka for investigation after receiving a request from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation.

During the Gen Z protest last year, images and videos had surfaced showing burnt fragments of banknotes at the residences of Khadka and former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal. 

The findings were reportedly later confirmed through forensic laboratory tests.

Khadka was accused of receiving financial benefits in exchange for facilitating licences and contracts for projects while serving as the Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.