Nepal’s Acting Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ananda Prasad Sharma, was attacked with a knife at his office on Thursday by a fellow citizen.

According to the Embassy of Nepal in Riyadh, Laxman Bahadur Rai of Sunsari, who was taking refuge at the embassy, barged into Sharma’s office at around 11am and attacked him with a knife for the “delay caused in his return to Nepal”.

The assailant is said to have mental disorder.

 “When he entered my office, I was working. He shut the door and started attacking me,” Sharma told the Post. A special team of Saudi police deployed for the embassy’s security broke open the door and rescued Sharma. “We came to know about the incident after Sharma cried for help. A serious incident was averted due to timely intervention,” said an official at the embassy. Police immediately rushed him to King Faisal Hospital. “He has received a deep cut injury on his shoulder and is out of danger. He might be discharged today itself,” the official added.

According to the embassy, Rai arrived in Saudi Arabia three months ago. “We gave him refuge at the embassy shelter after we found out that he was suffering from mental disorder,” the official informed.

“We had taken him to Riyadh Airport as he was supposed to board a flight on April 11. But when we reached the airport, he refused to return home.

We were preparing to send him back today,” he added.

The embassy came to learn only this morning that Rai had also assaulted the manager of a company where used to work.

“We have heard that he had also served a jail term in Qatar,” said the official.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) had appointed Sharma as deputy chief of

the mission on May 7, 2015.

He took over as acting ambassador from the first week of August, 2015, after former ambassador Udaya Raj Pandey returned to Nepal after completing his four-year tenure.

Issuing a press statement on Thursday, MoFA confirmed the incident and condemned the act. However, it did not mention anything about the reason behind the attack on Sharma.

“The assailant was taking refuge at the embassy,” the MoFA statement said.

While MoFA has said the assailant has been detained by Saudi police for legal action, it has not revealed the attacker’s identity.

“Our serious attention has been drawn to the incident,” said MoFA, adding that

it has sought details from the Embassy of Nepal in Saudi Arabia.