Police on Tuesday found a pistol and three bullets on a motorcycle being used by a CPN (Maoist Centre) candidate for the upcoming elections in Bhimsen Rural Municipality-3. 

Security personnel seized the weapon from the two-wheeler (Ba 73 Pa 3386) on which Sushila Simkhada, a Maoist Centre candidate, was riding a pillion. Simkhada is the Maoist Centre’s candidate under the proportional representation (PR) system for the federal parliament.

The pistol and bullets were seized during a security check, said SP Prakash Adhikari. The weapon and bullets were in a bag. 

Guna Prasad Khanal of Bhimsen-4, who was driving the motorcycle, fled the scene. 

“She told police during interrogation that she had hitched a lift with the motorcyclist,” said Adhikari, adding that Simkhada was freed after man’s clothes were found in the bag that contained the pistol. 

Security personnel claimed that some people had entered the district from Kathmandu with weapons. 

Violent activities had taken place in the area in the past elections as well. The area where police seized the weapon lies in Gorkha Constituency 1.