Durga Prasain, a medical entrepreneur and political activist, was arrested on Monday from his Bhaktapur residence for the fifth time in the past several months, just days before his group plans nationwide protests.

The Kathmandu District Police said he was detained over concerns for public safety and national security amid his group’s plans for nationwide protests starting November 23.

His arrest has sparked strong reactions from his supporters, who submitted a 24-hour ultimatum to the District Administration Office, Kathmandu demanding his unconditional release.

The police have obtained permission to keep Prasain, a medical entrepreneur, in custody for four days.

Members of the Citizen and Government Rescue Campaign, claimed that their central chairperson, Prasain, had been arrested on Monday night without any complaint filed against him, or an arrest warrant, and demanded his release.

“If he is not released within this period, the campaign will be compelled to launch further protests and struggle programmes from tomorrow [Wednesday],” the group said in a statement.

According to SP Pawan Kumar Bhattarai of the Kathmandu District Police Range, the District Administration Office has granted four days’ remand for investigation.

The police have also taken nine people into custody who went to the Kathmandu District Police Office to meet Prasain on Tuesday afternoon. Those arrested include Prasain’s personal security guards and activists of the group.

Kathmandu District Police Range spokesperson Bhattarai said that they were taken into custody for questioning. The vehicle they had arrived in was also searched by the police.

Earlier, the government and Prasain’s representatives held their first round of talks on November 12. During the discussions, the group submitted a 27-point demand. Both sides had described the talks as positive, while the Prasain group had expected the second round of dialogue to take place with Prime Minister Sushila Karki. Prasai himself, however, was not present at that day’s meeting where the Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal had led the dialogue on behalf of the government.

When Prasain announced nationwide protests starting November 23, Prime Minister Karki had been urging his group to register a party in the election commission to contest the March 5 elections. On Sunday, the Prasain group registered a political party under the leadership of Prasain’s personal secretary, Madhav Kalpit, with Prasain himself taking the role of patron.

A source at the Home Minister talking to the Post on November 12, the day of the dialogue, that Prasain would be arrested if he failed to maintain political decorum. The source, a government officer, had stated that Prasain was currently out on bail after being charged with criminal cases.

SP Bhattarai, spokesperson for the Kathmandu District Police Office, however, said that while dialogue and negotiations would continue with Prasain’s group and the government, Prasain was arrested because his expressions were undermining law and order.

Prasain had previously been taken into custody for his role in the pro-monarchy demonstration in Tinkune, Kathmandu, on March 28. Two people were killed during that protest—one by police bullet and another in an arson attack. He had been on the run after the protest and was later arrested from the Nepal-India border in eastern Nepal. He was released on August 4 along with two others after posting a bail of Rs50,000.

Before being charged with sedition in the March 28 incident, Prasain was first arrested in September 2024 after Rastriya Swatantra Party central member Jwala Sangraula filed a complaint accusing him of character assassination. Police investigated him under Section 47 of the Electronic Transactions Act 2008, but he was released in the following October after posting a Rs50,000 bail.

He was arrested again on November 19, 2024, after releasing a video claiming that then prime minister KP Sharma Oli had made illegal investments totalling Rs32.5 billion in a Cambodian telecommunications company.

Although the Supreme Court ordered Prasain’s release on December 12 on a bail of Rs40,000, he was kept in custody on additional charges of organised crime and extortion.

The Kathmandu District Court on January 9, 2025, ordered his release on Rs300,000 bail.