CPN UML to Protest Arrest of Vice Chairman Bishnu Prasad Paudel

Kathmandu. CPN UML is going to politically protest against the arrest of its vice-chairman Bishnu Prasad Poudel. After Poudel was arrested by the police from Surkhet on Monday based on a letter from the Department of Money Laundering, UML leaders have said that they will politically protest against it. UML has called Poudel's arrest cheap popularity and a stunt.

UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel has said that the arrest of Vice-Chairman Bishnu Prasad Poudel is against the principle that in any matter, a fair and deep investigation should be conducted first, facts and evidence should be collected, and proceedings should be carried out based on the court's decision after prosecution (filing a case). He said that leader Poudel was deliberately taken into custody while he was in Surkhet to attend a party program.

Chairman KP Sharma Oli, General Secretary Pokharel made his statement on social media shortly after the party's official stance on Poudel's arrest was made public.

"The incident where the Director General of the Department of Money Laundering had spoken on the phone a while ago and requested to come into contact after coming to Kathmandu tomorrow, and after a while, instructed the Surkhet police to arrest him by writing a letter, shows that the state's investigative bodies are being operated by invisible centers," said General Secretary Pokharel.

He said that any state body should be independent and impartial, and its decisions should not be motivated by political prejudice, revenge, or cheap popularity.

"The investigation and prosecution process must be based on facts, evidence, and strict adherence to the law, not used as a weapon to finish someone off or settle a score.

CPN (UML) is in favor of a just society and impartial justice, where no one will be a victim of prejudice and the real culprit will not escape the legal scrutiny," Pokharel said, "but the arrest of Vice-Chairman Bishnu Prasad Poudel appears to be prejudiced and vindictive against that principle. This kind of vindictive act, done under government orders for cheap popularity, will be strongly opposed legally and politically."