Nepal’s former PM arrested over alleged role in protest crackdown

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former prime minister KP Sharma Oli and ex-home minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested on Saturday over their alleged involvement in a deadly crackdown on protesters in September, police said. The detentions came a day after Prime Minister Balendra Shah and his cabinet were sworn in following the first elections since the 2025 uprising that toppled 74-year-old Oli’s government.

“They were arrested this morning and the process will move forward according to the law,” Kathmandu Valley police spokesman Om Adhikari told AFP. An inquiry commission into the violence found that at least 76 people were killed in the anti-corruption youth uprising on September 8 and 9.