Nepal's lawmaker arrested in connection with bomb blast

Kathmandu, May 5 (IANS) Nepal Police have arrested a lawmaker for his alleged involvement in a powerful bomb blast in a public place in 2012 which killed five people, police said Monday.

Lawmaker Sanjaya Kumar Shah, a member of the terai-based Sadbhavana Party, was arrested by a team of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police, Xinhua reported.

Police said investigations revealed that Shah was the mastermind behind the blast. It is the first case in which a lawmaker in the current Constituent Assembly has been arrested on criminal charges.

Superintendent of Police Uttam Subedi told media that Shah would be presented in court and formally charged.

A former state minister for physical planning and works, Shah was the only directly elected lawmaker of the Sadbhavana Party in the 2013 elections to the second Constituent Assembly.

--Indo-Asian news Service

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