The prime minister, who was scheduled to attend Maoist lawmaker Bhakta Bahadur Shah´s daughter´s wedding bash at Dhamboji of Nepalgunj, canceled his plan after three plastic bags were found lying suspiciously around the program venue. [break]
Dr Bhattarai, who arrived at Nepalgunj airport on Friday, headed straight toward Chisapani of Banke district to attend an orientation program for Maoist cadres after being informed about the suspicious objects.
St Thomas School, which was close by, was also closed abruptly after the news about suspicious objects spread.
The three suspicious bags found around Swastik Cottage, a restaurant where the wedding bash was organized, were thought to be bombs.
The sighting of unattended suspicious objects immediately caused hue and cry among security personnel mobilized for the PM´s security.
A police team led by Ain Bahadura Malla, in-charge of the Ward Police Office of Nepalguj, visited the place where the suspicious objects were found. The team concluded that the bags contained bombs.
Subsequently, a team of Armed Police Force (APF) personnel headed by SP Govinda Chhetri and a bomb disposal team of Nepal Army (NA) headed by Captain Govinda Neupane reached the site.
After four hours, when the contents of the bags were finally taken out, the suspicious objects turned out to be cylinders used for spraying pesticides.
"The bags belonged to one Baikuntha Adhikari who told us that some thieves had stolen his bags containing pesticides and cylinders," said SP Bikram Singh Thapa. "We went through all the hassles unnecessarily."
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