Jan 09, Kathmandu- Five people, including Ward Chairman of Bhimad Municipality-7 Prakash Shrestha, have been arrested on charges of assaulting Ram Babu Gairhe, the manager of Bhimad Savings and Credit Cooperative in Tanahun.

The police have arrested five people and started an investigation after Ward Chairman Shrestha beat up Manager Gairhe for auctioning land that was mortgaged after he failed to repay a loan taken from a cooperative in 2076 BS in the name of Ward Chairman Shrestha's wife Laxmi Kumari Shrestha.

According to the District Police Office, those arrested are ward chair Prakash Shrestha, Ishwor Kumar Shrestha, Nitesh Shrestha, Napoleon Shrestha and Bikal Shrestha. After taking a loan of Rs 2.8 million in 2076 BS, they did not pay the principal and interest even once, and ignored repeated letters and phone calls to inform them, so the cooperative auctioned the land as per the cooperative rules and procedures, informed the cooperative chairman Kajiman Shrestha.

"When letters were sent to the house, they were not understood and instead, the employees were threatened, so the board of directors was forced to proceed with the legal process and auction the land," he said. Cooperative chairman Shrestha said that ward chairman Shrestha had assaulted the manager because the decision made by the board of directors was a legal process for the manager to implement.

Rambabu Gairhe, the manager of the cooperative, informed that five people came to the place where he was having lunch at 9 am on Monday and beat him up. He said that everyone was in fear after the deadly attack on the family. The District Court Office has extended the remand of the five people, including the arrested ward chair Shrestha, by five days and started investigation, informed Police Inspector Poshan Thapa of the Area Police Office, Belchautara.