Two youths, who splashed red ink on a car carrying CPN-UML leader Mahesh Basnet, have been released.

Basnet was on his way to Itahari on Sunday to attend a youth mobilisation campaign of his party after arriving at Biratnagar Airport when Sanjog Gautam and Arpit Kunwar threw the ink on Airport Road.

Police detained them immediately after the incident. They were released on Sunday evening. “We released them yesterday. There was no point in holding such young boys,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Kopila Chudal said.

The incident occurred near a tea shop, a short distance from the airport. One of the two suddenly stood up and threw the ink at the vehicle, while the other recorded the scene on his phone.

Gautam, who threw the ink, is the unit committee president of the Nepal Students’ Union, a student wing of the Nepali Congress, at Mahendra Morang Campus and is considered close to the Shekhar Koirala camp. Kunwar is also said to be affiliated with a Congress-aligned student group, though he argued that he is not linked to any party and became active in Gen Z protests after the September events.