NEPALGUNUJ: Nepalgunj area remained tensed after a vehicle belonging to Nepali Army hit and killed a CPN-UML activist at Ganeshman Chowk along Surkhet road today.

Prem Narayan Poudel (42), joint secretary of CPN-UML Ward No 13 of Nepalgunj Municipality, was killed when an army jeep (Na 1 Jha 532) knocked him down here today morning. He was also the former vice-chairman of Sitapur VDC of Banke.

According to the police, the NA personnel inside the vehicle, after the mishap, had taken Poudel to Bheri Hospital. However, he was declared dead there.

In the aftermath of the death, irate locals barged into the Bheri Zonal Hospital premises and set the vehicle parked there into fire. The demonstrators also engaged in frequent clashes with police there. They also vandalised the Internal Revenue Office.

The agitators have demanded to provide compensation to the kin of the deceased and to make public the driver’s name and designation. It is reported that the vehicle was driven by Lieutenant Man Bahadur Chaudhari. However, NA has kept mum over the incident.

The demonstrators also shut the market places and obstructed the highway in the area throughout the day. Educational institutions remained closed due to the mounted tension. Security was beefed up in banks and army hospital.

The army personnel who were in the ill-fated vehicle went to the brigade No 4 of the NA near the hospital after leaving the dead body there. Banke chief of Nepal Police Mingmar Sherpa informed that they took Lt Chaudhari under control.