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Journalism of Courage
Former Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was arrested on Wednesday for refusing to appear before an anti-graft panel to answer charges of corruption, police said.
The arrest came just four days before the scheduled end of emergency rule imposed by King Gyanendra after he sacked Deuba’s government on Feb. 1 for failing to quell a nine-year-old Maoist rebellion.
Deuba was taken from his home in Kathmandu after midnight in a police car, officials said. Later on Wednesday, he was driven to the office of the Royal Commission for Corruption Control. Nepali Congress (Democratic) party spokesman Minendra Rijal said that dozens of policemen broke open the gate of Deuba’s house in the middle of the night, cut off electricity and telephone lines and arrested him.Deuba had refused a summons from the Commission, which wanted to question him about the distribution of public funds and the choice of contractors for a water project.
An official of Deuba’s Nepali Congress said Deuba did not answer questions as the Commission was unconstitutional. After he was grilled at the rccc’s office at Nayabaneshwor for seven hours, Deuba was then taken to the Nepal Police Training Centre at Maharajgunj for detention.
Several Nepali Congress Central Committee members and a dozen student leaders were also arrested today.
Deuba has been placed under house arrest for several weeks following Gyanendra’s Feb.1 move and only released last month.
