Dan Bahadur Karki has begun consulting lawyers after being removed as inspector general of police, with 17 months remaining in his tenure.

A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday decided to remove Karki and transfer him to the post of security adviser to the prime minister. He has since spoken to several lawyers about the decision.

The government has decided to replace Karki with Additional Inspector General Manoj KC as police chief. The Home Ministry is preparing to confer the insignia of the inspector general’s rank on KC later on Wednesday.

According to a source at Police Headquarters, Karki was at the headquarters when the government announced its decision.

“As soon as we heard that an emergency Cabinet meeting was being held, there were indications that something might happen,” an official said. “And that is exactly what happened.”

After the decision, Karki himself contacted several lawyers to discuss possible legal options, the official said. All those consulted advised him to pursue legal action, he added.

Advocate Swagat Nepal also told Kantipur that he had spoken to Karki by phone and advised him to file a petition at the Supreme Court challenging the government’s decision.

In 1997, the government transferred then-serving IGP Achyut Krishna Kharel to the National Investigation Department. Kharel challenged the decision, made by then home minister Bamdev Gautam, in the Supreme Court. The case, however, remained pending for a long time.

Kharel was later reinstated as IGP after the government led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand, in which Gautam was home minister, fell and Surya Bahadur Thapa became prime minister with the support of the Nepali Congress. Dhruva Bahadur Pradhan, whom Gautam had appointed as IGP, was transferred to the post of the prime minister’s adviser.