Police Escort Durga Prasai from Airport to His Bhaktapur Residence Without Detention

Dragon Media News Desk

Royalist campaigner and businessman Durga Prasai was taken in a police vehicle from Tribhuvan International Airport to his residence in Bhaktapur after arriving in Kathmandu from Jhapa on Sunday. Police, however, did not formally arrest or detain him.

Prasai had returned to Kathmandu from his home district of Jhapa. Shortly after he landed, a police team led by Superintendent of Police Pawan Kumar Bhattarai, spokesperson for the District Police Range Kathmandu, placed him in a police vehicle.

Rather than taking him to a police station or detention facility, the police drove Prasai directly to his residence in Bhaktapur and released him there. The incident is therefore being viewed as a preventive security measure rather than a formal arrest.

Prasai frequently travels between Jhapa and Kathmandu. When he arrives in the capital, YouTubers and online media workers often gather at the airport to seek his reaction to current political developments. Prasai also regularly provides outspoken comments that generate content for online platforms.

This time, however, YouTubers and media workers who had reached the airport were not allowed to enter the inner area. Police stopped them near the airport’s Golden Gate, preventing them from meeting Prasai.

Prasai subsequently left the airport in a police vehicle without speaking to the media.

Speaking to Nepal Press, SP Bhattarai said Prasai was prevented from addressing journalists because public statements and crowd gatherings are not permitted in the airport’s restricted and sensitive areas.

Police said Prasai had not been arrested in connection with any case and was taken home solely as part of a security-management measure.

Tribhuvan International Airport and its surrounding areas are considered sensitive from a security perspective. Authorities have previously tightened security when political receptions, demonstrations or large gatherings were expected in the area.

The police action is understood to have been prompted by concerns that Prasai could make provocative remarks at the airport amid growing criticism of the government over recent political developments, potentially worsening tensions or creating difficulties in crowd management.

Police have presented the move as a routine preventive measure aimed at avoiding congestion and possible security risks in a restricted area, rather than as an attempt to curtail Prasai’s freedom of expression.

Nevertheless, the decision to place a public figure in a police vehicle and take him to his residence without formally arresting him has raised questions about the limits of preventive policing, the movement of public figures and access between political activists and journalists.