Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau has issued a notice summoning senior journalist Dil Bhusan Pathak to appear at its office or a nearby police station, stating that an arrest warrant has been secured against him under the Electronic Transactions Act.

The bureau said it had obtained the warrant from the court and requested Pathak to cooperate in the ongoing investigation. “As the arrest warrant has been issued, you are kindly requested to report immediately to this bureau or the nearest police office to assist in the investigation,” the official statement read.

However, on Monday, the Patan High Court issued an interlocutory order instructing the authorities not to arrest Pathak immediately.

The order came in response to a petition filed by Pathak challenging the legality of the arrest warrant.

The petition argues that the warrant was issued with malicious intent and by misapplying legal provisions. Judge Rishi Raj Bhandari’s single bench heard the plea and temporarily barred police action until further review.

The warrant was based on a complaint filed by Jaiveer Singh Deuba, son of Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba.

The complaint concerned a video titled “Jaiveer Deuba’s Money in Hilton!”, which was published on Pathak’s YouTube channel and raised questions about Deuba’s alleged involvement in a share transaction related to the Hilton Hotel.