National
Three held on church explosion charge
Police have arrested three people on the charge of detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in various churches in Jhapa.Police have arrested three people on the charge of detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in various churches in Jhapa.
The arrestees—Ram Bhandari, 51, of Morang, Krishna Chudal, 56, and Ramchandra Baniya, 45, of Jhapa—were made public on Tuesday amid a press meet at the District Police Office.
Four churches in the district became the targets of bombing plot last week, which police believe was perpetrated by Hindu extremists.
According to police, the kingpin of the blast Madhav Bhandari of Maharajgunj in Kathmandu and Suman Karki, 29, Pradip Thapa, 28, and Aananda Giri, 29, of Jhapa are still at large.
Security source said Madhav Bhandari had formed Hindu Morcha Nepal merging Nepal Shiva Sena, Hindu Defence Army, Hindu
Sena, Shreeram Santa Samaj, Hindu Bahini Nepal and Ranbir Sena.
Two of the churches—Jyoti Mandali Church at Damak and Emmanuel Church at Khajurgachhi—were damaged in explosions while an IED recovered from a church at Surunga went off at a local police post, injuring three policemen. The fourth IED recovered from a church at Gauradaha was defused by a Nepal Army team. Police said pamphlets of an obscure outfit calling itself Hindu Morcha Nepal were recovered from the sites. Police said that Ram is the military commander of the organisation while Baniya is the Jhapa chairman of Rastriya Samyukta Dharmik Manch. The explosions in two churches occurred hours after the Constituent Assembly voted against the amendment proposal to reinstate
Nepal as a Hindu state on September 14. Police said Ram and Pradip brought 6 kilograms of explosive from Forbesganj, India, three weeks earlier.