51 people, including Indian, died in recent anti-government protest in Nepal: Police
Kathmandu (PTI): At least 51 people, including an Indian national, have died in the recent 'Gen Z' protest that erupted across Nepal against corruption and a ban on social media sites, police said on Friday.
Senior Superintendent of Police Ramesh Thapa, who is co-spokesperson for Nepal police, said the casualties include one Indian national, three policemen and other Nepali citizens, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
At least 36 bodies are at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, where post-mortems began on Friday, it said.
Police said 17 bodies were recovered from different parts of the country on Thursday and Friday.
At least 19, mostly students, were killed when police opened fire at the Parliament building in Kathmandu when the protests under the banner of Gen Z launched their agitation on Monday.
Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli quit on Tuesday shortly after hundreds of agitators entered his office demanding his resignation over the deaths during Monday’s protest. The ban on social media was lifted Monday night.
The violence continued even after Oli's resignation, with protesters setting fire to the Parliament, the President's Office, the PM's residence, government buildings, political parties' offices and homes of senior leaders.
Meanwhile, many of the bodies were cremated at Aryaghat of Pashupatinath Temple near the bank of Bagmatai river on Friday afternoon.
Nearly 1,700 people sustained injuries during the protests. Of them, around 1,000 have returned home after recovery, police said.
Nepal's police force is gradually resuming operations in the Kathmandu Valley, with police stations and posts that were vandalised or set ablaze slowly coming back into operation, officials said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Man sets fire to gas cylinder on truck in Kerala's Kottayam, held
Kottayam(Kerala) (PTI): A 33-year-old man climbed onto a parked truck carrying cooking gas cylinders and set fire to one of them near Thalayolaparambu in the small hours of Saturday, police said.
The incident occurred around 12.30 am, they said.
The fire and rescue personnel soon arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire, averting a major disaster.
According to police, the man is suspected to be under mental distress as he claimed that he was walking from Ernakulam to his home in Marangattupilly here when he saw the truck on the roadside.
An FIR under sections 329(3)(criminal trespass),324(2)(mischief),326(f)(mischief by injury, inundation, fire or explosive substance) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was lodged against him.
Police said that the man was formally arrested, but will be released on station bail as the offences he is accused of are bailable.
"His family is here at the station and he will be released to them," the officer said.
In the FIR, police have said that the man opened the seal of one of the gas cylinders and set fire to it with the knowledge that his act was dangerous to those living in the area.
According to the company transporting the cooking gas cylinders, it suffered a loss of Rs 2,300 in the incident.
