Police arrested medical entrepreneur Durga Prasain from Chalnakhel in Kathmandu on Friday while he was travelling to Birgunj.

Kathmandu police said Prasain was detained as he was heading to Birgunj to attend a programme. Preparations are underway to hand him over to the Cyber Bureau for further investigation.

Prasain, who leads the ‘Nation, nationality, religion, culture and citizens’ grand campaign’, had planned to hold a programme in Birgunj, but the local administration had not granted permission.

Despite the denial, Prasain had insisted on organising the programme at Ghantaghar.

Only on Thursday, campaign Janakpur coordinator Vijay Thapa had said that the programme, in which Prasain was scheduled to address, was being planned as a “massive citizens’ assembly”.

This is not the first time Prasain has been arrested.

Earlier, on January 19, police in Pokhara had also taken Prasain into custody following a request from the Election Commission. He was arrested near Pokhara Airport by Kaski police after he released a video claiming that a faction of the Nepali Congress had paid Rs520 million to the Commission to influence election results. The court later released him.

The arrest followed allegations that Prasain spread misleading information undermining the credibility of the Election Commission.