The Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday permitted police to hold controversial medical entrepreneur Durga Prasai in custody for five days.

Police arrested Prasai on Tuesday on charges of cybercrime for disseminating false information against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on social media.

Through a video call with another person, Prasai made some documents public alleging that Prime Minister Oli has invested Rs32.5 billion in a telecom company in Cambodia.

On Tuesday, a screenshot of the allegation was widely circulated on social media, and some media outlets even published news reports based on that. In one of the videos, Prasai claims that he spent over Rs10 million to obtain the documents related to Oli’s investment.

However, Oli’s purported signature on the document that Prasai made public, which went viral on social media, was false, and his name was spelt incorrectly.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police apprehended Prasai from his residence in Bhaktapur on the charge of cybercrime that was later handed to the Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police. The bureau presented Prasai to the Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday and obtained permission to detain him for five days.

Superintendent of Police Deepak Raj Awasthi, spokesperson for the Cyber Bureau, confirmed that the Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday granted them the permission.

According to Awasthi, the bureau would only investigate Prasai's involvement in cybercrime.

“If Prasai is to be investigated on charges other than cybercrime, the CIB will do it,” Awasthi told the Post.

CIB spokesperson Hobindra Bogati said the police are investigating Prasai under section 47 of the Electronic Transaction Act 2008. The investigation report of the cybercrime will determine whether there should be further investigation on him. If yes, it will also be based on the cybercrime report, Bogati said.

“As Prasai has been arrested twice under Section 47 of the Electronic Transaction Act 2008, if proven guilty, chances remain of him being punished to a maximum degree,” Bogati told the Post.

Section 47 (1) of the Act states that if any person publishes or displays any material on electronic media that is prohibited from publishing or displaying by the prevailing law, they shall be liable to a fine not exceeding Rs100,000 or be punished with imprisonment not exceeding five years or with both.

If any person repeats an offence as referred to in Sub-section (1), they shall be liable to the punishment for each time—one and one-half percent of the previous punishment, reads sub-section (2) of the law.

Earlier, with an order from the Kathmandu District Court, the Nepal Police arrested Prasai on September 18 on charges of violating the Electronic Transaction Act-2008.

However, the Kathmandu District Court on October 1 ordered his release on Rs100,000 bail. Police had arrested him based on a complaint by Rastriya Swatantra Party central committee member Tika Sangraula and other women, accusing him of character assassination.

Prasai was nominated a central committee member of the CPN-UML after the 10th general convention held in November 2021 and was considered close to UML chair Oli.

The UML, however, expelled Prasai from the party in February 2023 after he led a campaign to reinstate monarchy. He organised various events to felicitate former king Gyanendra Shah in his home district Jhapa. Prasai was previously affiliated to the CPN (Maoist Centre).