Vice President's Office Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar Detained for Message to Prime Minister

Kathmandu. Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, working at the Vice President's Office, was returning home after finishing office work on Friday. Police were following him as he left the office. 

As he neared his home in Kupandole, a team led by a DSP from the Metropolitan Crime Investigation Division stopped his car. The police told him, 'You have to come with us.'

Pushkar was surprised. There was no reason for the police to take him. He asked, 'What is the matter?'

After the police insisted on discussing the matter at the office, he agreed to go to the Metropolitan Crime Investigation Division. There, SSP Santosh Khadka, who had worked with him at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, was the chief. Therefore, Pushkar did not feel uncomfortable going to the Mahashakha at Teku. At Teku, the police questioned him about the message he had sent to Prime Minister Balen Shah. Officials from the Metropolitan Crime Investigation Division said that after a long interrogation, he was released on bail to his wife, Aabha Shrestha, at 10 PM.

Pushkar had sent a message to Prime Minister Shah. He had sent the message about 'ambassadorial appointment' to Shah, who is from his home district of Mahottari.

According to an official involved in the investigation, the message read, 'I am going on retirement, I would be grateful if you could appoint me as an ambassador.'

The government had called for applications for ambassadorial appointments about two weeks ago. In the message, he further wrote, 'Honorable Sir, should I fill out the application form or what, please guide me.'

Pushkar had not specified any country for the ambassadorial post. After the message arrived on the Prime Minister's mobile, his secretariat instructed the police to arrest Pushkar. He was about to be sent to the hospital for a health check-up with an urgent arrest warrant. 

After the health check-up, he was to be kept in the custody of the District Police Range Kathmandu at Bhadrakali. However, officials said that while being taken to the hospital from the gate of the investigation office with an urgent arrest warrant, the car Pushkar was traveling in was called back. An official from the Metropolitan Crime Investigation Division said, 'We don't know what was discussed, but then an order came to release him.'

Senior police officials are also not satisfied with the arrest of Pushkar without legal basis. When Pushkar was the secretary of the then Ministry of General Administration and Ministry of Finance, Balen Shah was the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Pushkar stated during police questioning that they used to communicate then. 

An official involved in the investigation said that Prime Minister Shah also knew and communicated with Pushkar's wife, Aabha Shrestha. When Pushkar was the Finance Secretary, the then Mayor Shah used to discuss the budget with him. However, many have questioned why it became necessary to arrest him when he asked 'should I fill the form or not' to become an ambassador after becoming Prime Minister now.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's secretariat claimed that Pushkar had bypassed the 'chain of command' and sent a message to the Prime Minister for personal gain. Pushkar was in contention to become the Chief Secretary. However, he lost that opportunity when the then Sushila Karki government appointed Sumanraj Aryal as Chief Secretary on November 24, 2025 (Bikram Sambat). Secretary Pushkar is retiring in the fourth week of Asar.