Ex-PM Oli and ex- Home Minister Lekhak arrested over last year’s Gen Z protest crack down

Former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli was arrested on Saturday, a day after the newly formed government led by Balendra Shah implemented the probe commission report on the Gen Z protest that rocked the nation last year.  Oli, also CPN-UML chair, was arrested at the Gundu area of Bhaktapur district, early Saturday morning, according to the police.

    Former Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Ramesh Lekhak has also been arrested from his residence at Katunje of Suryabinayak Municipality in Bhaktapur district, the police added. 

    Both Oli and Lekhak have been arrested on charges of their 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 probe commission formed to investigate the incident surrounding the Gen Z movement has recommended legal action against Oli and Lekhak, among others, under criminal offence.

Nepal’s newly formed government, led by Balendra Shah, in its first cabinet meeting on Friday, decided to immediately implement the recommendations made by the probe commission.

”Nobody is above the law,” wrote Home Minister Sudhan Gurung in a social media post after the arrest. 

”We have taken under control former Prime Minister KP Oli and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak. This is not a revenge against anybody, just the beginning of justice,” he said. ”I believe that now the country will take a new direction,” he added. Both Oli and Lekhak have been taken into detention at the Kathmandu District Police Circle in Bhadrakali, said the police. However, Oli was later taken to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital for medical examination soon after the detention. Oli was admitted to the hospital at the advice of the doctors after he was diagnosed with problems related to the heart and kidney, said Senior Superintendent of Police and spokesperson of Kathmandu District Police Circle, Pawan Kumar Bhattarai.