A group led by Nepali Congress Regional President Balkrishna Basnet has assaulted the chairman of Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower project, Sunil Kumar Lama on Sunday. Lama who was going to the site of the project was forced to get off his jeep midway at a bridge by a group of around 8 to 10 persons including local leaders of Nepali Congress, Balkrishna Basnet and Yudhir Paudel. The group then took him to an isolated place and beat him. He was later rescued by police from Bahrabise Area Police Office who were notified of the incident by Lama's helper. Police have however refused to register any complaint against the attackers, allegedly due to pressure from Nepali Congress. Inspector Raju Pande of APO Bahrabise said that he was in talks with both the parties to resolve the issue. NC leader Paudel said that they were not satisfied with the manner in which the employees were recruited in the project and had only warned Lama about the issue. He alleged that priority was given to cadres of UCPN-Maoist and CPN-UML during the recruitment.