The judicial commission investigating the violent suppression of the Gen Z protests has recommended freezing the passports of five top officials, including the erstwhile prime minister KP Sharma Oli.

Those recommended for action are Ramesh Lekhak, who was home minister in the Oli Cabinet, then home secretary Gokarna Mani Duwadi, then National Investigation Department chief Hutaraj Thapa, and then Kathmandu chief district officer Chhabi Rijal, according to a statement issued by Bigyan Raj Sharma, a member of the commission.

Commission chair Gauri Bahadur Karki said the decision was made to ensure accountability as inquiries progress.

“We may require additional human resources to complete the probe effectively, and we will request support from the home ministry,” Karki said on Sunday.

The recommendation is one of the most high-profile actions since the interim government formed after the Gen Z uprising pledged to investigate the killings of 19 young demonstrators on September 8 and incidents of violence and further killings the next day.

Public anger has grown over the state’s heavy-handed response, which saw widespread arrests, beatings, and reported disappearances of student activists. Families of victims and human rights defenders have been demanding not just truth and compensation, but also legal consequences for those in command during the crackdown.

The investigation remains politically sensitive, as Oli still holds sway over the CPN-UML, the second-largest party in the dissolved House of Representatives.

A Cabinet meeting on September 21 formed a judicial inquiry commission led by former judge Karki to probe into the excessive use of force by security agencies during the Gen Z protests on September 8-9.

The commission’s decision comes a day after Oli expressed his anger over the reports that the authorities were considering freezing his and other key officials’ passports.

Addressing a gathering of party cadres loyal to him on Saturday, Oli expressed his anger against the Sushila Karki government.

“Now the government is talking about revoking my privileges, withholding my passport, filing cases against me. They’re throwing the country into insecurity—shouldn’t they be responsible for ensuring security?” he told the gathering on Saturday.

Whether this recommendation leads to prosecutions or fizzles out like many past commissions will determine if the government’s pledge for accountability can restore public trust.

The Oli government was toppled on the second day of the Gen Z protests but then-prime minister Oli and his home minister Lekhak have been squarely blamed for taking the lives of dozens of people with excessive force used to quell the protests.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has blamed the Oli government’s failure to anticipate the intensity of the Gen Z demonstrations as well as the declining morale of security agencies for the huge loss of lives and properties in the second week of September.

Issuing a brief monitoring report on Friday, the constitutional rights watchdog said the first half of the protests on September 8 was peaceful. “Monitoring revealed that the deaths caused by police firing on the first day led to indiscriminate arson and vandalism on the second day,” the NHRC report reads.