Nepali Acting Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ananda Prasad Sharma, sustained four cut wounds after he was assaulted with a knife at his office on Thursday by a fellow citizen. The assailant identified as Laxman Bahadur Rai of Sunsari barged into Sharma’s office and attacked him this morning. “He [Rai] suddenly came into my office while I was working, shut the door, and started attacking me,” said Sharma, talking briefly to the Post. Doctors have put stitches in his mouth. A special team of Saudi Police deployed for the Embassy’s security broke open the door and rescued ambassador Sharma. “We learned about the incident after Sharma cried out. A serious incident was averted due to the timely intervention of the police,” said an official at the embassy. Rai went on the rampage at around 11 am local time apparently for delaying his return to Nepal. He was taking refuge at the embassy. Police immediately rushed him to King Faisal Hospital. “He has a deep cut wound in his shoulder and is out of danger. The hospital is preparing to discharge him today itself,” the official said. According to the embassy, Rai has a psychiatric disorder. He arrived in Saudia Arabia three months back. We gave him refuge at the shelter after finding that he was a mental case. “We took him to Riyadh Airport as he was supposed to board a flight on April 11. But he refused to return upon reaching the airport. We were preparing to repatriate him today,” he added. The embassy only learned this morning that Rai had assaulted his company manager with a knife and fled before coming to the embassy. “We have heard that Rai had also served a jail term in Qatar. It seems Rai’s background needs to been checked thoroughly.” The Foreign Ministry had appointed Sharma as deputy chief of the mission on May 7, 2015. He took over as acting ambassador from the first week of August 2015, after former ambassador Udaya Raj Pandey returned completing his four-year tenure.