Baglung, January 29:

A group of around half-a-dozen armed Maoists beat up Khadka Bahadur Gurung, chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-affiliated National Democratic Peasants’ Union, in Parbat, yesterday night.

The Maoists broke into Gurung’s house located at Durlung VDC-9 in Parbat at midnight. They took Gurung some distance away from his house and broke his right leg. “The Maoists accused me of hiding a pistol. When I said I had no pistol, they beat me up,” Gurung said.

Meanwhile, the Maoists obstructed a section of the Pokhara-Baglung highway by digging up the road at Bajung VDC-2. A team of security personnel has been sent to clear the road, police said.