The police in Nepal on Saturday morning arrested former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, a day after former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah took oath as the new prime minister, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Oli and Lekhak were arrested in a case related to the alleged suppression of youth-led protests in Nepal in September. Oli had resigned as the prime minister amid the protests on September 9.

The police said that Oli and Lekhak were arrested following the recommendations of a commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Gauri Bahadur Karki, The Kathmandu Post reported. The commission recommended that the former prime minister, former home minister and the then Inspector General of Police Chandra Kuber Khapung be charged with criminal negligence, which carries a jail sentence of up to ten years.

The panel alleged that the crackdown on the protests was the result of criminal negligence and recklessness, according to The Kathmandu Post. It accused the authorities of failing to act on intelligence about possible escalation, which led to several deaths.

At least 72 persons were killed in the protests, while government and private properties worth billions were damaged.

The protests were sparked by the Nepali government’s ban on 26 social media platforms on September 4. Although the Oli government lifted the social media ban on September 8, the agitation had...

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