NAWALPASARI/KATHMANDU: Police on Friday apprehended two persons for trying to open fire on former Minister of State for Home Affairs Devendra Raj Kandel in Lalitpur of Badahara Dubauliya, Nawalparasi.

The suspects have been identified as Ujjwal Gadtaula (42) of Thutibari, Maharajganj of India and Yogendra Patanwar (42) of Rajawari, India.

Locals with the help of Kandel's body guard took the miscreants under control while they were trying to shoot him with a revolver, Chief District Officer Hari Prasad Mainali informed.

Following the incident, anguished locals torched a bike (UP 53 9856) used by them.

A premanent resident of Maheshpur, Kandel is the Nepali Congress (NC) President of Nawalparasi district.

He had sustained a bullet injury during the Maoist insurgency also.

He was elected to the Parliament from Nawalparasi-4 in the legislative elections of 1994 and 1999.

Kandel had served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs twice in 1998 and 2000.

The former minister had contested in the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008 from Nawalparasi-5 representing the NC, but lost by around 3,000 votes.

Kandel had contested the CA elections of 2013 from Nawalparasi-4, losing again.

It has been learned that among the shooters, Gadtaula is a relative of Kandel.