Hindu leader Acharya Shree Niwas, who was arrested for trying to incite communal violence by staging an attack on himself to make it appear like an attempted religious assassination, has started fast-unto-death at District Police Office, Morang, on Wednesday.

According to District Police Office, Morang, Chief Arun Kumar BC, Acharya has not eaten anything since he was brought to Biratnagar from Kathmandu.

“We are administering slaine water to Acharya at the District Police Office,” he said, adding, “His wound has not been healed completely.”

Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Kamal Thapa through his social media account Twitter said that the work done by Acharya Shree Niwas is highly condemnable.

Shree Niwas was detained from the Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday while he was preparing to fly to New Delhi, India. He was then transported to Biratnagar, where he could be tried for conspiring to cause religious disorder. 

The District Police Office, Morang, paraded Shree Niwas and two of his accomplices—Madhav Chaudhary of Laxmiraj Adhikari—before the media on Monday afternoon.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Arun Kumar BC said it was Shree Niwas who had instructed his bodyguard Chaudhary to shoot at him on the early morning of April 8 while Adhikari was the person who supplied the pistol.

Shree Niwas, who suffered a bullet wound in his chest, was admitted to Neuro Hospital in Biratnagar, where he remained in treatment for 21 days before going to Kathmandu.

Morang police had presented Chaudhary and Adhikari at the District Court on May 3 and registered attempted murder case against them.

Shree Niwas, who hails from Simara-3 in Bara district, has an Ashram in Sunsari.