KATHMANDU: Former Nepal prime minister K P Sharma Oli will remain in judicial custody for two more days as a district court here permitted the police to extend his detention on Wednesday.
The deposed prime minister and then home minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested on March 28 for their alleged involvement in suppressing last year's Gen Z protest, which left 76 people dead.
The Kathmandu District Court permitted Nepal Police to extend their detention by two more days, said Pawan Bhattarai, spokesperson at Kathmandu District Police Circle.
Earlier, the court had given permission to put Oli and Lekhak under judicial remand for five days to investigate the matter.
Oli, 75, is currently admitted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital as he is suffering from various diseases.
The police have been recording his explanations on the case from the hospital bed.
While, 62-year-old Lekhak's statements in the case are being recorded in police detention.
The arrests came after the newly formed Balendra Shah government decided to implement the report of a probe commission into the Gen Z protests in its first cabinet meeting.
Oli's Communist Party of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN-UML), meanwhile, demanded the party chairman's immediate release.
Speaking on Thursday at the first session of the House of Representatives (HoR) after the March 5 election, CPN-UML lawmaker Guru Baral accused the government of arresting Oli for political revenge.
Calling the arrests "illegitimate and unconstitutional", he called for Oli and Lekhak's immediate release.
Meanwhile, Ravi Lamichhane, chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, to which Shah belongs, said the arrests cannot be described as retaliatory.
Referring to those who lost their lives during the Gen Z protests on September 8 and 9, he said, "The first right to justice belongs to the mothers of the martyrs. This (arrest of Oli and Lekhak) cannot be termed retaliation."
Lamichhane emphasised adherence to the law and urged opposition parties to respect legal processes.
Lamichhane also made the remarks during the maiden session of Parliament, convened by President Ramchandra Paudel on Thursday.