Nepal arrest former prime minister

POLICE stormed the house of former Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba early yesterday after he failed to appear before an anti-corruption commission as part of a crackdown by the royalist government that critics say is politically motivated.

About 50 policemen surrounded Deuba’s home on the northern outskirts of the capital, Katmandu, just after midnight and asked him to surrender, said Jeevan Prem Shrestha, spokesman for Deuba’s Nepali Congress Democratic.

When the ex-prime minister refused, they cut off electricity and telephone and broke into the house, forcibly taking him into custody around 2am local time, Shrestha said.

Deuba’s government was sacked in February by the king, who accused it of graft and failing to crush a communist insurgency. After firing the government, the monarch seized power and imposed emergency rule - moves condemned by foreign governments.