A day after Nepal Police directed the probe committee to look into the allegation that Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Nawaraj Silwal forged the performance appraisal form, a police team from the Nepal Police Headquarters detained DIG Silwal. He was later released following the Supreme Court directive.

DIG Silwal was summoned for an investigation into the case in which he stands accused of forging performance evaluation form, said Nepal Police Spokesperson SSP Sarbendra Khanal.

He was arrested from Senior Advocate Sambhu Thapa’s residence in Baluwatar on Monday morning while having legal consultations. Thapa had accompanied DIG Silwal to the police headquarters where a probe committee led by DIG Bijaya Bhatta recorded his statement.

DIG Silwal has recorded 9-page statement despite his initial reluctance because he was not in a “proper physical and mental state”, Thapa said. “I’ve also signed in the statement. The statement revolved around the performance evaluation form,” said Advocate Thapa, but refused to divulge details.

DIG Silwal had repeatedly expressed his concern over the “illegal” arrest by police officials while he was consulting with his lawyer.

The committee was formed to look into the allegation that DIG Silwal forged the performance evaluation form before submitting it to the Supreme Court in a case of seniority during the inspector general appointment. The police headquarters on Sunday directed the committee to begin its probe, without setting a time-frame to submit its report.

A Cabinet meeting last week had instructed the police headquarters to investigate into the claims of document forgery and how DIG Silwal got hold of the performance evaluation sheet that is supposed to be one of the most confidential documents. Following DIG Silwal’s arrest on Monday morning, a single bench of Chief Justice Sushila Karki directed police to present him before the court in response to a writ filed by lawyer Purna Prasad Rajbansi. In the writ, Rajbansi has claimed

that DIG Silwal was apprehended and kept in the custody illegally.

After recording his statement, DIG Silwal was taken to Bir Hospital for health checkup, according to SSP Khanal. “He was later dropped off at his house.”

The controversy on the work performance evaluation arose after DIG Silwal moved the Supreme Court, challenging the government decision to appoint Prakash Aryal as the new Inspector General of Nepal Police.

Earlier on March 21, quashing the government decision to appoint DIG Jaya Bahadur Chand as the Nepal Police chief, the court had instructed the government to take into account seniority, merit and performance while promoting officials. The bench had also observed that “DIG Silwal has the highest marks” among the contenders.

UML chief Oli expresses concern over arrest Chairman of the main opposition CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli has expressed serious concern over the arrest of DIG Nawaraj Silwal, denouncing the government’s act as anarchic.

“A Nepal Police DIG was arrested while he was consulting with his lawyer. There are no charges. There is no arrest warrant,” Oli said, while speaking at Parliament. “Will we ever have a rule of law or has the anarchic system prevailed already?...Is this the way a government functions?”

Oli asked the government to abide by the law and immediately correct its course. “Let the government not take the law in its own hand,” said Oli.

“It has already staged a drama while appointing the IGP. I urge the government not to stoop so low.”