Police on Monday arrested Maoist Centre vice-chair and former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara in connection with a gold smuggling case.

Mahara, who was arrested from Pakadi of Kapilvastu district, was later flown to Kathmandu from Bhairahawa airport for investigation.

Sudarshan Baral, chairman of the Lumbini Province chapter of the ruling Maoist Centre, said that Mahara was travelling to Rolpa via Bhairahawa.

Upon his arrival in Kathmandu, Mahara was taken to the Central Investigation Bureau’s office at Lazimpat.

Later, he was produced before the Kathmandu District Court, which remanded him to four days in custody for investigation. A single bench of judge Durga Prasad Khanal remanded him in custody, according to Chandra Prasad Panthi, information officer at the court.

Citing his health condition, the court has also allowed him to stay at a hospital during the custody period. Following the order, he was admitted to the Thapathali-based Norvic Hospital.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane had on Sunday ordered police to implement the inquiry commission’s report on a large-scale gold smuggling scam that implicated Mahara.

The commission, headed by former High Court chief judge Dilli Raj Acharya, submitted its report on Thursday accusing the CIB of making deliberate efforts not to investigate Mahara, the then director general of the Department of Immigration Jhalak Ram Adhikari, and former Nepal Police chief and UML leader Sarbendra Khanal in the gold scam.

After receiving the report, Home Minister Lamichhane submitted it to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. On Friday, the Cabinet decided to implement the report’s recommendations.

The commission submitted its report after studying the lapses in police investigation into the scam that involved smuggling of 60kg gold by hiding it inside motorcycle brake shoes last year, and also into another scam wherein 9kg of gold was smuggled by concealing it inside electronic cigarettes in December 2022.

The District Attorney’s Office filed a case against Rahul, son of former Speaker Mahara, in October last year for his alleged role in smuggling 9kg gold.

The CIB had taken Rahul into custody on August 30 last year for investigation. As per a government report, the father-son duo had been in regular contact with Chinese gold smugglers, with a total of 256 phone conversations between them.

Previously, police had inquired with senior Mahara about the smuggling after he was found to be in constant touch with Chinese smugglers. Though Mahara was a suspect, police didn’t record his statement in the presence of the government attorney as required by the law.