POKHARA, Nov 25: Police have arrested four cadres of the outlawed Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) and a journalist from Pokhara.

Police sources said that they were apprehended by Kaski police from a secret assembly organized by the CPN Kaski chapter at a local squatter's settlement in Deurali area in Pokhara Metropolitan City-33 on Monday night. However, CPN's Kaski chapter has claimed that they were held on the way after attending the assembly.

Four members of the CPN namely Kumar Pariyar, Yam Prasad Bhattarai, Kali Bahadur Pandey and Bishal Shrestha have been under police control since Monday night.

The detained journalist has been identified as Raj Kumar Ghimire. He is the Pokhara representative of a news portal called sacharkendra.com and the owner of local pokharapati.com. Grishma Gurung said that her husband (Ghimire) was arrested by police when he was out for news reporting on the assembly organized by the CPN. She has appealed to the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) to take initiatives for her husband's immediate release.

Ghimire was arrested earlier, too. However, he was released at the initiative of FNJ, the umbrella organization of Nepali journalists. Meanwhile, FNJ Gandaki Province chapter has expressed concern over the arrest of journalist Ghimire. It has demanded the immediate release of Ghimire.