Kathmandu, January 27:

The local administration of Kathmandu district today set free six leaders of the agitating political parties from preventive detention in the presence of a Kathmandu district judge.

Those who were released today are: Mahesh Acharya, Khum Bahadur Khadka and Govinda Raj Joshi of the Nepali Congress, Siddhilal Singh and Raghu Pant of the CPN-UML and Khemraj Bhatta Mayalu of the Nepali Congress (Democratic).

All six had been arrested on the eve of the seven-party alliance’s joint rally on January 20 and were being held at a Duwakot-based barrack of the Armed Police Force. The government, however, today switched off the landline telephone of UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and has barred the party’s standing committee member Bharat Mohan Adhikari from meeting relatives, according to party sources.

Meanwhile, police today arrested Badri Pandey, general secretary of the Nepal Student Union (NSU), from Bagbazaar at around 6 pm. Pandey was headed back to the NSU office after taking part in a meet of the eight student unions at the office of All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU) at Khasibazaar, Kathmandu.