Police have arrested an assistant health worker from Chhepetar in Gorkha municipality 10 for being seen with Netra Bikram Chand in an old video.
Ram Chandra Pandey, who works as senior health worker at the urban health center in Chhepetar, was arrested from his clinic at his home in Chhepetar on Sunday. "They said 'you seem to be Chand's cadre and where have you hidden the weapons?' and manhandled me," Pandey tod Setopati.
He added that the police dragged him away to the District Police Office even as he pointed that he is a government staffer and would follow them to the police station on his motorcycle.
AYouTube channel had posted an old video of him with Chand filmed at the time of Gorkha Earthquake in 2015 on March 24, 2019 titled 'Chand has been found in this state and these are preparations.' Police raided his house and arrested him on the basis of that video.
Pandey claimed he had met Chand and his team on the way while going to Barpak following government instruction to health workers to go to quake-affected areas if the place where they were deployed was not hit hard. He added that someone may have filmed a video while he was walking together with Chand's team for a short while. Chand's party was not banned at that time.
"They had apparently posted the video filmed at that time," Pandey said. "They showed me that video at the District Police Office. I was baffled."
Ram Chandra Pandey
He questioned the police investigation that led to his arrest based on an old video. "Why harass me for being seen in a video when Chand was not underground? One could openly click photos with Chand at the time. His group was not banned like now then," he pointed.
"How many persons would the police arrest if they investigate looking at old photos and videos? There are photos of Chand even with Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa. Will Home Minister also be arrested?" he questioned.
He said the police looked at his photos posted on Facebook when he had gone to visit Melamchi of Sindhupalchowk while he was in Kathmandu for office work, and accused him of reaching Melamchi to take part in a meeting of Chand's party.
He claimed that the police also misconstrued a condolence message posted on Facebook on the day a neighbor passed away to have been posted for the Chand's cadre killed in a bomb explosion in Dhangadi. "They can go to my village and verify whether the neighbor had passed away that day or not," he fumed.
The police questioned Pandey for 24 hours and released him on date on Monday after they could not find anything to establish his connection with Chand's party.
Chief of Gorkha Police SP Om Prasad Adhikari confirmed that Pandey was arrested on the basis of that old video. "Yes, video was also one of the reasons," SP Adhikari told Setopati. He Adhikari added that nothing incriminating has been found from Pandey's house and he could not provide valid reasons to justify the arrest. "He was arrested on suspicion. He's been released on date now," he added.
"It's not so. We are investigating," SP Adhikari replied after laughing for a while when asked if police have arrested even other persons on the basis of old videos.
Pandey is affiliated to the organization of Nepali Congress affiliated health workers.
