The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the resignation of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nawaraj Silwal.

Amid widespread criticism that the government is preparing to take action against Silwal by not approving the resignation, Minister for Home Affairs Janardan Sharma approved the resignation by keeping the date of October 5.

Though Nepal Police Chief Prakash Aryal had sent the resignation letter to Secretary at the Home Ministry Lok Darshan Regmi for approval, the letter was put on hold saying he had not received the resignation letter.

DIG Silwal on September 12 had resigned from his post after the Supreme Court quashed the writ petition filed by him challenging the appointment of Prakash Aryal to the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP).

Silwal had joined the main opposition CPN-UML on Friday.

According to UML Lalitpur Publicity Department Chief Amrit Timilsina, sub-ordinate committees have been demanding to make Silwal, who had spend 29 years in the Nepal Police, the candidate from Lalitpur-1 in the upcoming elections.