Nepali Congress cadres on Monday took to the streets in Rautahat to protest against the arrest of Mohammad Aftab Alam, a party lawmaker, for his alleged involvement in 2008 bombing and the subsequent murder of at least 23 persons in the district. The agitating cadres of the main opposition burnt tyres and obstructed roads at different places.

However, the supporters of Alam fled as soon as the police arrived near them. The security has been strengthened throughout the district.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Nabin Karki, Alam supporters have been staging demonstrations at various places including Gaur buspark, Sabgadha, Rajpur Fardahawa, Jayanagar, and Kopwa.

Superintendent of Police Bhupendra Khatri, the chief of Rautahat District Police, said security personnel have been heavily mobilised in the district to prevent possible untoward incidents.

A police team detained the Nepali Congress leader, who was elected to the federal parliament from Rautahat constituency-2 in the 2017 elections, from near the Sheikh Idris gate in Rautahat on Sunday.

Shortly after his arrest, the Congress cadres gathered for protest in the district headquarters Gaur and Alam’s native village of Fardahawa. Police had fired two rounds of tear gas to contain the situation as the mass began to swell on Sunday.

At least two people were killed and two dozen others injured in an explosion in Fardahawa, Rajupr, in the district on April 9, 2008. Alam faces the charges of burning the injured alive in a brick kiln “to destroy the evidence”.

Alam was elected from Rautahat constituency-2 in the first Constituent Assembly elections in 2008. However, he lost the second Constituent Assembly elections in 2013, before going on to win the 2017 legislative elections. Alam had served as a minister in Madhav Kumar Nepal government.