Kathmandu, June 14:

Cadres of the CPN-Maoist today gheraod the house of Shushil SJB Rana, a close relative of former king Gyanendra, at Madikhatar this morning “to retrieve the money that he has to pay to his former staffers of Ganapati Jute Mills at Sarlahi.”

When they had reached Sushil’s house, he was out. Locals caught seven of the Maoist cadres and handed them over to the Metropolitan Police Circle, Maharajgunj, accusing them of trying to abduct Rana’s family.

In their reply to the police, the seven Maoist cadres said they had gone to the house of Sushil to retrieve the money that he had to pay to his former staffers of mills, which was shut some 15 years ago.

“Two staffers of the mills used to work in Rana’s house and he had to pay them around Rs 1.6 million. We went there to retrieve the money,” they told the cops. “Rana’s family told the police that they were forced to sign the paper stating that they had to pay Rs 2.5 million to the two staffers,” the police said. “However, some months ago they had said they owed Rs 9 lakh to the staffers.”

The police said they released all the seven Maoist cadres as the Maoists agreed not to take any illegal action to retrieve the money. Rana’s family agreed to pay the money once an investigation is conducted to find the actual amount of they owed to the staffers, the police said.