Cadres of CPN (Maoist Centre) staged a demonstration at Manebhanjyang in Okhaldhunga on Wednesday demanding the release of its leader and former lawmaker Bal Krishna Dhungel.

Police on Tuesday arrested Dhungel from Lalitpur, eight years after he was convicted of murder by the Supreme Court (SC).

The leaders and cadres of CPN (Maoist Centre) also obstructed the Harkapur-Okhaldhunga road section for half-an-hour as part of the protest programme.

They also issued a statement today itself demanding immediate release of Dhungel.

The demonstrators who took to the street carrying black banners staged a corner assembly at the Manebhanjyang road.

Maoist Centre politburo member Baburam Gautam and CPN-UML leader Lok Krishna Bhattarai, among other leaders, addressed the assembly.

Saying that the government is trying to dig up the issues of decade-long Maoist insurgency, Gautam demanded prompt release of Dhungel.

Leaders said that the country could invite another conflict if Dhungel is not released immediately.

Likewise, Bhattarai said that it was unfortunate that the government detained Dhungel against the comprehensive peace accord.

Dhungel was first convicted by Okhaldhunga District Court on May 10, 2004 for murdering Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga on June 24, 1998. Rajbiraj Appellate Court, however, on June 25, 2006 gave him a clean chit, and he was released after serving a brief jail term. But the SC on January 3, 2010 overturned the Rajbiraj Appellate Court order, upholding an earlier verdict of Okhaldhunga District Court and ordered the authorities to arrest him.

Dhungel, who won the first Constituent Assembly elections from Okhaldhunga-2, continued to enjoy political patronage of the Maoist party and its leaders, due to which he was never arrested despite being spotted in public places.

The apex court on April 13 also had ordered Nepal Police to arrest Dhungel and send him to jail “within a week”. However, the court, which followed Dhungel’s statement in March warning of “physical attack” on the judge who had handed down a life sentence to him, went unheard.

ALSO READ: Murder convict Dhungel sent to prison