The Kathmandu District Government Attorney’s Office on Tuesday refused to register a case against Nepal Communist Party lawmakers Mahesh Basnet and Kisan Shrestha and forner police chief Sarbendra Khanal for their roles in the alleged kidnapping of lawmaker Surendra Yadav last Wednesday.

Top leaders from Yadav’s Janata Samajbadi Party, who approached authorities to file the complaint, were told to leave an application at the office, and that officials would study the document and inform them of its fate later.

"The District Government Attorney Office refused to file the complaint," said Keshav Jha, a leader of Janata Samajbadi Party. According to the new civil code, complaints related to criminal cases can also be filed directly at the office of the district attorney concerned.

Jha said that District Attorney Hari Prasad Regmi asked Upendra Yadav, Rajendra Mahato, Mahendra Rai Yadav, Ashok Rai and other leaders of the newly formed Janata Samajwadi Party, to leave an application at his office and that the office would study it and inform them about his decision.

Janata Samajbadi Party leaders approached the district attorney, two days after Kathmandu police refused to file a complaint against Basnet, Shrestha and Khanal citing “orders from higher up” even when Yadav himself approached them. A police spokesperson, however said that the complaint was not registered in Kathmandu as the alleged incident took place in Dhanusa district.

Yadav’s alleged abduction was one of the events triggered by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s decision to pass two controversial ordinances last week. One of the two ordinances, now repealed by President Bidya Devi Bhandari, made it easier for political parties to split. Many believe that the ordinance was specifically targeted at the party Yadav belonged to. Yadav was allegedly brought to Kathmandu from Jakakpur by the trio in order to facilitate the split in the erstwhile Samajbadi Party, which was negotiating a merger with the Rastriya Janata Party.

Following the issuance of the ordinances, the Samajwadi Party and the Rastriya Janata Party decided to enter into a merge on Wednesday night, in an attempt to foil Oli’s plan to divide the third and fourth largest parties in Parliament.

The recent controversy surrounding Yadav’s alleged abduction has also triggered a factional feud in the ruling party with leaders from Oli’s rival camps criticising him over his handling of the situation.

Numaraj Khanal, a Kathmandu district government attorney, had said on Sunday that if a police office refuses to register a case, the complainants either need to file an application at the district government attorney’s office or reach out to a higher police office.

It was unclear what the party plans to do next after Tuesday’s events.

Meanwhile, members of the student wing of the ruling Nepal Communist Party approached the Kathmandu District Attorney’s Office to register a complaint citing the Electronic Transactions Act against Janata Samjbadi Party leaders Baburam Bhattarai, Hisila Yami and Bishwadeep Pandey for spreading rumours about the alleged kidnapping of Surendra Yadav.

However, the attorney’s office also refused to register their complaint and asked for a week to study it.