Police have arrested Prakash Raut, ward chair of Chaudandigadhi Municipality-9 of Udayapur, on the charge of assaulting a woman.

A police team from Beltar Area Police Office arrested Raut for allegedly assaulting a local Sunita Shrestha who tried to stop the illegal extraction of aggregates from a river in a community forest on Friday, according to Superintendent of Police Gyanendra Phuyal.

Shrestha alleges she was assaulted by the ward chairman after she argued that the law prohibits the extraction of aggregates during monsoon and that aggregates cannot be extracted from a river within a community forest.

Ward chair Raut claimed he did not assault or misbehave with anyone. He argued that the aggregates were being extracted for repairing a road.

Raut in January had thrashed a local Kumar Huzdar leaving with a fractured hand following a dispute over aggregate extraction.