Kathmandu: Nepal’s former chief justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana was briefly detained on Sunday following a possible security threat, according to the police.
However, local media reports said that Rana was arrested in connection with a criminal case. The police denied the reports, saying the former chief justice had been “placed under protection” following information about a possible security threat.
The Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office confirmed that Rana was taken to its office in Teku. Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Khadka said the former judge was brought “under police security” after authorities received information that he could face an attack.
The police have not publicly identified the source of the alleged threat.
According to media reports, Rana was briefly detained for his recent meetings with former prime minister K P. Sharma Oli.
A police team went to Rana's residence in Maharajgunj around midnight and took him to the police office in the early hours of Sunday. He was released Sunday noon after some questioning, said police sources.
A leading news portal claimed that Rana was detained for questioning on suspicion of involvement in plots to dislodge the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah.
The brief detention comes amid preparations for anti-government protests by opposition parties, including the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist led by Oli and the Nepali Communist Party led by Pushpakamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.
Rana became the chief justice on January 1, 2019. An impeachment motion was registered against him in Parliament on February 13, 2022, following which he was suspended from office.
The impeachment motion remained pending in Parliament and was not put to a vote before the term of the House of Representatives ended. The then secretary-general of the Federal Parliament Secretariat subsequently declared the motion inactive.
A writ petition challenging that decision was filed in the Supreme Court. On September 9, the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench dismissed the petitions, ruling that the impeachment motion against Rana had lost its purpose.
