- Following Oli’s arrest, supporters staged protest rallies.
- Oli had resigned after deadly protests last September.
- Police say Oli and Lekhak will be arraigned on Sunday.
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former prime minister KP Sharma Oli was arrested on Saturday as police investigated whether he was negligent in failing to prevent dozens of deaths in a crackdown on Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests last September, officials said.
Oli’s arrest, which his lawyer said was illegal and sparked protests by supporters who clashed with police, followed rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s swearing-in as prime minister on Friday and a recommendation by a panel investigating violence during the protests that he be prosecuted for negligence.
His former home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, was also arrested.
76 people were killed last September in a police attack and arson and violent unrest during the protests that led to Oli’s resignation.
After his arrest on Saturday, supporters held protest rallies and clashed with police who tried to stop them burning tires near the prime minister’s office. Police fired tear gas and used batons to break up the protests, injuring one person, witnesses said.
Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) called his arrest illegal and said it was an “act of revenge”. It demanded his immediate release and said more protests were planned for Sunday.
Shankar Pokhrel, a senior party official, told reporters that protest notes against the arrest would be submitted to the government in all the country’s 77 districts on Sunday.
Interior Minister Sudan Gurung dismissed the criticism, saying on Facebook: “It is the beginning of justice. The country will take a new direction now.”
Election defeat
Oli was prime minister four times between 2015 and 2025, but never served a full five-year term. In 2020, he released a new political map, including a small stretch of disputed land controlled by India, giving him a popularity boost in Nepal.
His popularity did not last and he was beaten by Shah in his home constituency in an election this month, his second defeat since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990. Anger at the deaths in September’s protests helped Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party win the election in a landslide.
The panel investigating the violence last September held Oli and Lekhak responsible for failing to act to stop hours of police firing on the protesters.
Police spokesman Om Adhikari said Oli and Lekhak would be arraigned on Sunday.
Oli, 74, who has had two kidney transplants, has been transferred to a hospital from the police station where he was first taken, witnesses said.
His lawyer, Tikaram Bhattarai, told Reuters the arrest was unjustified and would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
“They have said it (the arrest) is for investigation. It is illegal and inappropriate because there is no risk of him fleeing or avoiding questioning,” he said.
Lekhak and his attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
