ICC Note: A Hindu nationalist leader has been arrested by police in Nepal for staging an attempted assassination in order to stoke religious conflict. Sriniwas Acharya instructed one of his followers to shoot him on April 8 in an attempt to soar to fame and incite religious conflict. Christians in Nepal have faced significant hostility from Nepal’s Hindu nationalists including the passage of a national anti-conversion law that will go into effect in August 2018.    

05/09/2018 Nepal (The Himalayan Times) – ‘Religious Leader’ Sriniwas Acharya, who was earlier shot at on April 8, has been held by the police on Monday. Acharya has been accused of issuing instructions to shoot himself.

A special police team who have been investigating into the case for almost a month arrested Acharya from Kathmandu, where he recently reached after receiving 21-days-long treatment at the Biratnagar based Neuro-Cardio and Multispecialty Hospital. Acharya was looking to flee to India after his allies’ recent arrest.

Madhav Chaudhary and Lakshmi Raj Adhikari ‘Santosh’ were arrested on Thursday in connection with the case. Adhikari had apparently supplied the pistol and the bullets to Chaudhary which he then used to shoot Sriniwas Acharya, shockingly, following Acharaya’s instructions.

Lakshmi Raj Acharya provided Madhav Chaudhary with the crime weapon following Acharya’s request.

According to Chief at the Morang District Police Office, SP Arun Kumar BC, Acharya was brought to Morang from Gaushala in Kathmandu. The prime accused Chaudhary and Adhikari, who have admitted to shooting Acharya, during an interrogation session pointed toward Acharya as the mastermind of the shooting. “We have begun interrogation with Sriniwas Acharya regarding the same,” informed the Superintendent of Police.

Police said Acharya had hoped to soar to fame and incite people into religious conflict.

The attackers were asked to shoot him in the arms, supposedly ‘in the name of country and religion’ by Acharya. However, the shooter, Madav Chaudhary, took a bad aim and the bullet hit Acharya on his right chest. Two shots were fired in the incident where one bullet had hit a wall in the vicinity.

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