KATHMANDU, March 16: Police have arrested Communist Party of Nepal politburo member Mohan Karki alias Jibanta.
A special bureau of the Nepal Police arrested Karki on Friday evening from near his Lalitpur-based rental room, according to police sources.
Karki is the senior-most leader of the party to be landed in police net, five days after the government banned the activities of Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN in response to the growing incidents of extortion and violence by the party.
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The government's move came following two major blasts in the capital in the interval of two months, in which, one person was killed and two persons sustained injuries. In its press statements, the Chand-led Party had taken the responsibility of both the major blasts.
Spokesperson of the government, Gokul Prasad Banskota, told reporters on Thursday that the government banned the activities of the Chand-led Party after the party was found involved in growing incidents of extortion and violence across the country.
The government spokesperson said that the armed groups including the Chand-led Party have been given 35 days deadline to surrender their arms and ammunitions.
"Obviously, the government will take strong action against those who disrupt peace and stability," Banskota told the press conference on Thursday.
With the decision, the government started treating the Chand-led party as a criminal gang rather than a political outfit. The Chand-led Party's recent activities including extortion and detonating bombs are becoming security threat for the country.
The party is one of the splinter factions of the former Maoist rebel party that entered the mainstream peaceful politics in 2006 after the end of the ten-year-long civil war since 1996.
