Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said the government was making diplomatic efforts to secure the release of two brothers from Sarlahi who have been in an Indian jail for the past 20 days after being arrested while returning home with fertiliser bought from across the border.

The minister said communication was underway through Nepal’s embassy in New Delhi after Kantipur reported on Tuesday about the detention of 55-year-old Suresh Prasad Singh and his 60-year-old brother Nagendra Prasad Singh of Balara in Sarlahi-5.

Khanal said the embassy was coordinating with Indian authorities to secure their release on bail and that the two men were expected to walk free on Tuesday. “I have been in regular contact with the embassy for the past three days to help release the Singh brothers from the Indian jail,” he said. “The embassy has asked the family members to reach there today.”

The brothers were arrested on July 1 after they were found carrying two sacks of urea and six sacks of diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser purchased from Sonbarsa, an Indian border market. The arrests came after the Nepal government failed to ensure adequate fertiliser supplies for farmers ahead of the rice planting season.

Like in previous years, the brothers had crossed into Sonbarsa to purchase fertiliser for their farms. While returning on bicycles with the fertiliser, they were stopped by a joint team of India’s agriculture department officials and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), India’s border security force. They were accused of smuggling fertiliser and taken into custody.

They were initially held at the Sonbarsa police station before being transferred to the Dumra prison in Sitamarhi district of Bihar. They have not yet appeared for a court hearing.