ROLPA, Sept 15: Bir Bahadur Gharti, a former Maoist commander and chairperson of Thabang Rural Municipality was abducted by an unidentified group on Thursday.
 
The CPN (Maoist Centre) is about to conduct its first village assembly on Saturday for the inauguration of which the party's chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been invited. The locals have speculated that the abduction is a planned conspiracy by the Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN-Maoist to foil the assembly. 

Following the incident, a large number of police personnel have been deployed in the area in order to beef up the security. A team led by police chief of Rolpa, Birendra Thapa, and chief investigation officer Manoj Dhakal has left for Thabang to prevent any untoward incident following the abduction.

Dijan Bhattarai, chief district officer of Rolpa, said "Gharti was kidnapped from Koichawang of Thabang at around 12 am. We have mobilized Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and officers of the National Investigation Department to nab the culprits."

 
• dinesh subedi
 
• thabang
 
• bir bahadur gharti