KATHMANDU: Metropolitan Police Commissioner's Office at Ranipokhari, Kathmandu, today made a startling revelation saying that the "35-day arrest warrant" issued against State Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Karima Begum was a sheer rumour.

Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Kalyan Kumar Timsina, who is also the Police Commissioner of the office, argued that neither the government nor the Nepal Police Headquarters was yet to give official directives to their subordinate offices to take Begum into custody for investigation.

"We don't have any knowledge about the arrest warrant so far. It is a rumour. We came to know about it from you journalists," he said.

Earlier, the police headquarters claimed that it had directed its offices to arrest minister Begum at the behest of District Police Office, Parsa. She had slapped Parsa CDO Durga Parsad Bhandari at his office chamber for allegedly sending a malfunctioning vehicle to receive her at the local airport last Tuesday.

A source at the Ministry of Home Affairs disclosed that the security agencies would not be able to arrest her unless the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet give green light.

Parsa police had lodged a case under Public Offence Act against Begum for an attack on a high-level government official. However, Begum dared the government and police to arrest her.