Political prisoners freed

BARA: The Bara district administration office released Achyut Mainali, Bara district secretary of NCP (UML), acting district chairman of the Nepali Congress Lal Babu Singh and Manoj Bhatt, coordinator of the youth action committee on Friday, who were arrested under the Security Act. — HNS

Sajha sales counter looted

DANG: A gang looted Rs 2,37,830 from Sajha Prakashan’s local sales centre during curfew hours at 8 pm on Thursday. District police chief, Bishworaj Singh Shahi, the gang looted the money from the sales counter chief Liladhar Joshi. — HNS

Amod Upadhyaya critical

BIRATNAGAR: Former minister for education and sports, Amod Prasad Upadhyaya, who was arrested on February 1 and is undergoing treatment for diabetes, hypertension and asthma, has taken a turn for the worse, a relative said. Upadhyaya is at the Birat Nursing Home in police custody. — HNS

Curfew in VDC

RUKUM: The district administration has clamped curfew in Vijayswori VDC from 7:30 pm to 4 pm daily from Baisakh 22 onwards. Curfew will remain in force till further notice. According to the district administration office, curfew has been imposed in Nikhira, Ghadigaun, Lamichchane Gaun, Syla Khola, Tatagaun, Kalimati, Rekume Gaun and Mankot. — RSS

Contraband seized

KATHMANDU: A patrol of the Armed Police Force, Birgunj, on Thursday seized materials brought from India illegally. The team handed over the materials to Birgunj customs office the same day. The seized materials, estimated at Rs 0.15 million, were confiscated from Chapkaiya, Ranighat, Alau, Inarwa and other parts of the district. — RSS

Blasts in Dhangadhi

DHANGADHI: A blast rocked Aishwarya Vidhya Niketan Higher Secondary School in Dhangadhi municipality ward number 5, Hasanpur, on Thursday night. The explosion totally damaged eight rooms of the two-storey building.. In another incident, a bomb blast at Jaycees Everest English School in ward number 2. damaged a room and two computers. — RSS

Reader gets PhD

POKHARA: Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, has awarded Reader Lekh Nath Bhattarai of Prithvi Narayan Multiple Campus, Pokhara, with PhD in Economics. Bhattarai was also given an accolade for his research on “Interrelations between Poverty and Environment” related to management and utilisation of forest resources of the Mahabharata range in western Nepal.

— RSS

‘Rapist’ in detention

HETAUDA: The Makwanpur district court has issued orders to detain alleged rapist Tri Ratna Chitrakar of Hetauda municipality ward number 5 for investigation. Chitrakar is accused of raping a 12-year girl. — RSS

Buddha anniv panel

POKHARA: A 251-member main celebration committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Wil Bahadur Gurung in order to mark the 2549th anniversary of Lord Buddha in Pokhara on June 2 as the day for promoting cultural identity, peace and good-will. — RSS

Vigil against elephants

BIRTAMODE: The district forest office and the Royal Nepalese Army camp at Jabbargunj have started group vigil in the area against rampaging wild elephants. The district forest team started the vigil after a wild elephant in Budhbare of east Jhapa went berserk and killed several people. — RSS