Police raided the office of journalist Kishor Shrestha on Wednesday night, hours after arresting him at his home.

Shrestha is being held at the Kathmandu District Police Range and is due to be presented before a court on Thursday. Police said he was arrested for investigation on suspicion of violating Nepal’s Privacy Act, 2018. 

A team from the Kathmandu District Police Range raided the office of Jana Aastha Saptahik in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur, and seized computers, including CPUs and monitors, as well as other electronic devices.

Police spokesperson Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Thapa said the equipment was taken into custody as part of the investigation.

The Federation of Nepali Journalists has protested Shrestha’s arrest. The journalists’ umbrella organisation has announced a sit-in outside the Kathmandu District Police Range at Bhadrakali on Thursday.

Shrestha is the editor-in-chief of Jana Aastha Saptahik.