KATHMANDU, March 11: Police have arrested a district leader of Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal for his alleged involvement in detonating pressure cooker bomb at the newly-constructed house of former Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota this morning.

The arrestee has been identified as Dev Prasad Gurung who is Bhaktapur district committee member of the outlawed Chand-led party. Police have been able to nab Gurung, hours after he and some of the Chand-led party cadres detonated pressure cooker bomb at Baskota's house.

A pressure cooker bomb went off at the house of Baskota at Madhyapurthimi municipality-1, Lokanthali Manohara at around 7.40 am. 

According to Deputy Superintendant of Police at Metropolitan Police Circle, Shanti Raj Koirala, the explosion caused partial damage to the wall and glass of the house of the former minister. The glasses of a private van (Ba 19 Cha 4781) were also broken in the incident, he further informed.

The bomb explosion also smashed the window panes of the houses of Kuver KC and Kapil Ghimire which are adjacent to the house of the ex-minister. DSP Koirala said the investigation into the incident of bomb detonation is underway.

The incident took place at a time when there was no security patrol in the area this morning, locals said. No information has been obtained who detonated the pressure cooker bomb at the ex-minister's house, police said.

According to an eye-witness, there was big noise when the bomb went off targeting the house of Baskota.

It may be noted that Baskota had resigned from the position of minister for communications and information technology on a corruption scam of Rs 700 million concerning the procurement process of the security printing press. Ex-minister Baskota has been residing at the private residence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at Balkot, Bhaktapur.

(with inputs from RSS)