Police have arrested Hindu leader Acharya Shree Niwas from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu for trying to incite communal violence by staging an attack on himself to make it appear like an attempted religious assassination.

Shree Niwas was detained from the airport on Monday while he was preparing to fly to New Delhi, India. He was then transported to Biratnagar, where he could be tried for conspiring to cause religious disorder. 

The District Police Office, Morang, paraded Shree Niwas and two of his accomplices—Madhav Chaudhary of Laxmiraj Adhikari—before the media on Monday afternoon.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Arun Kumar BC said it was Shree Niwas who had instructed his bodyguard Chaudhary to shoot at him on the early morning of April 8 while Adhikari was the person who supplied the pistol.

Shree Niwas, who suffered a bullet wound in his chest, was admitted to Neuro Hospital in Biratnagar, where he remained in treatment for 21 days before going to Kathmandu.

“Our investigation revealed that it was Shree Niwas who had acquired the pistol through Adhikari and instructed Chaudhary shoot at him. This whole elaborate scheme aimed at rallying Hindus across the country to launch a “decisive movement” to reinstate Hindu nation,” SP BC said. Police learnt about this conspiracy when Chaudhary was arrested 26 days after the shooting.

“Acharya (Shree Niwas) instructed me to shoot at him. He told me that we needed to do something for the Hindu religion and this country,” Chaudhary told the media.

Chaudhary said the plan was to shoot Shree Niwas in his arm. “The bullet hit his chest instead. It was a mistake,” he said.    

Morang police had presented Chaudhary and Adhikari at the District Court on May 3 and registered attempted murder case against them.

Shree Niwas, who hails from Simara-3 in Bara district, has an Ashram in Sunsari.