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Nepal’s Supreme Court on Monday declined to release former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak following two separate petitions alleging their detention was illegal.
The petitions were filed Sunday, claiming that the arrests were unlawful after police took the former ministers into custody from their homes on Saturday morning. They face criminal negligence charges related to the deadly crackdown on last year's Gen Z protests.
Authorities said the arrests were carried out under emergency warrants issued by the government.
Supreme Court spokesperson Arjun Prasad Koirala told OCCRP that the court has ordered the government to submit a written response “explaining the circumstances and reasons for issuing an emergency arrest warrant within three days.”
Oli served as prime minister four times and is chair of the Communist Party of Nepal—Unified Marxist–Leninist (UML). Despite his government’s collapse following mass protests, he was elected in December to a third term as the party’s chair.
Hundreds of members of Oli’s party, along with its sister organizations and student wings, have staged regular protests in Kathmandu’s Maitighar-Babarmahal area following the arrests.
On Sunday, the Kathmandu District Court remanded Oli and Lekhak to judicial custody for five days. Meanwhile, the party's district committees submitted memoranda to the government demanding their immediate release.
“What we have done so far is to implement various reports. Everything is in accordance with the law,” government spokesperson Sasmita Pokhrel told journalists after the cabinet meeting on Monday.
Last week, a high-level commission investigating the violent suppression of 2025's Gen Z uprising recommended criminal prosecution against the former prime minister and top security officials.
Lekhak remains in police detention, while Oli has been admitted to the hospital due to heart issues.
The former prime minister also faces separate legal troubles regarding a corruption probe. Nepal’s Department of Money Laundering Investigation has launched an inquiry into three former prime ministers and two former ministers for alleged money laundering offenses.
“We have received some complaints against former prime ministers and are in the preliminary phase of inquiry,” Jitendra Adhikari, a director at the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, told OCCRP.
In addition to Oli, those under investigation include former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, as well as former ministers Arzu Rana Deuba and Deepak Khadka, the local newspaper Kathmandu Post reported. Nepali Police arrested Congress leader and former Energy Minister Deepak Khadka on Sunday.
“There are complaints concerning former prime ministers, and inquiries are ongoing. The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) is providing operational and investigative support to the DMLI as required,” CIB chief Manoj Kumar K.C. told OCCRP.
The wave of arrests follows Friday’s inauguration of Balendra “Balen” Shah, a 35-year-old rapper, as Nepal’s new prime minister. The Shah administration has unveiled an ambitious 100-point work plan for effective governance.
According to the plan, a high-level Asset Investigation Committee will be established under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers within 15 days. In its first phase, the committee will collect, verify, and investigate the asset details of major political figures and high-ranking officials who have held public office over the last 20 years.
Balendra Shah’s Rastriya Swotantra Party won a landslide victory in March over four-time Prime Minister Oli, months after anti-corruption protests toppled the previous government.
