Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, facing arrest for alleged corruption, returned home, six months after leaving for medical treatment abroad.
The veteran leader of the opposition Nepali Congress party waved and smiled as hundreds of supporters lined up the streets leading to Tribhuvan airport in the capital, Kathmandu, yesterday.
In April, police issued an arrest warrant for Deuba over money laundering charges, making him the latest high-profile figure targeted under the new government of Prime Minister Balendra Shah.
Deuba, 80, who left Nepal in February, has denied the allegations.
Nepal police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle said Deuba’s case is being handled by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation.
“We are giving security for him at the airport and to his rally because he is a former prime minister,” said Kafle.
Authorities had also issued a warrant for Deuba’s wife, former foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba.
The warrants were issued a month after Shah won a landslide victory on a platform of youth-driven political change in the first elections since deadly protests in September 2025.
Deuba’s tenure as president of the Nepali Congress ended in January, after younger members pushed for a leadership change.
Shah’s administration has launched a sweeping crackdown on high-profile political figures since coming to power.
Former prime minister KP Sharma Oli and ex-home minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested briefly in March for their alleged roles in the September protests.
The youth-led uprising was triggered by a brief social media ban but tapped into long-standing frustration over corruption and economic hardship in the Himalayan nation.
Protesters set fire to the parliament building and offices, eventually toppling the government.
Deuba’s home was among the buildings torched, and videos of protesters attacking the couple circulated widely online.
Bundles of cash were reportedly discovered at the property.
In testimony to a commission investigating the protests, Deuba dismissed videos circulating on social media as potentially fabricated. — AFP
