Mayor Balen gives clarification to his threat

KATHMANDU, Sep 3: The Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balendra (Balen) Shah, has given a clarification after posting a dangerous threat through his social media.

Balen had threatened to burn the Singha Durbar after the traffic police stopped his vehicle at night for inquiry.

Mayor Shah's personal secretary, Bhupadev Shah, issued a press release on Sunday clarifying that the Mayor's wife, Sabina Kafle, was in labour on Saturday evening. She was allegedly experiencing difficulty due to pregnancy and her health was in a critical condition.

But Balen's wife was not being taken to hospital for labour pains. She had already given birth a week ago and was discharged two days prior. The newborn baby had been undergoing treatment in the hospital so Sabina was returning home at night from the hospital on Saturday.

Balen's secretariat clarified - "The behaviour of the police became more aggressive after revealing the identity of the Mayor. The police moved the car to the side and questioned us for about 7 minutes without considering human sensibility."

The secretariat mentioned through the press release that the police ordered them to open the door and asked irrelevant questions.

"Without following the procedure, the police ordered to open the door and asked questions like 'Who are you? Where are you going?' and unnecessarily bothered a pregnant Sabina Kafle who was in the back seat", the press release mentioned.