Kathmandu, May 5

Police have exposed a ‘fake kidnapping’ allegedly staged by a man fielded by Naya Shakti Party Nepal as its candidate for ward chief of Nagarjun Municipality-7, Kathmandu, in the upcoming local level elections.

A search and rescue team had found Madan Giri walking around a forested area in Godavari of Lalitpur this morning.

The Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, had launched search and rescue operation after it received a complaint of Giri’s ‘abduction’ from Sorhakhutte on Wednesday.

The party also issued a press statement, saying that its local level elections candidate was kidnapped by an unidentified gang.

Giri SMSed one of his party leaders and said ‘he was abducted and being taken to somewhere else by a gang of four women’.

SSP Chabbi Lal Joshi, MPR in-charge, said, “We carried out search and rescue operation for two days before tracing him in Godavari. Our investigation does not establish this as a kidnapping case from any angle. Giri might have gone out of contact for his private reasons,” he informed.

During the search and rescue operation, police had raided over 36 suspicious places, including hotels and lodges, besides interrogating around 65 persons.

A police source said Giri hatched a plan of fake kidnapping to ‘earn cheap popularity and attract votes from people before the first phase of local level polls slated for May 14’.

He is sound and well and has no evidences to support his kidnapping claim.

Earlier, police had taken it seriously and dubbed this incident a threat to election security.

The source said it was an abduction hoax and police were still investigating the case.

Meanwhile, police said security had been beefed up in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur.

The Metropolitan Police Office has deployed as many as 6,980 police personnel and 4,268 temporary cops with major focus on sensitive areas to ensure that free and fair polls are conducted at all polling centres designated by the Election Commission.

Police have anticipated incidents of poll violence when all political parties are busy campaigning for elections after filing nomination of their candidates.