Oct 30, Kathmandu - Police brought Department of Water Resources and Irrigation Director General Dinesh Rajauria and Sunkoshi–Marin Multipurpose Project Director Krishna Prasad Rijal to the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday, after locating them outside the Kathmandu Valley a day earlier.

Police sources said the two were taken into custody on Thursday and presented at the office the following day. The Prime Minister’s Office, however, denied that they had been arrested or detained, saying they had been called in to answer questions about the project’s progress.

“We need to clarify a few matters with them, so we asked them to come,” an official told Setopati. “They are at the Prime Minister’s Office now. They were not arrested, as reported.”

The office acknowledged that it had asked police to help locate the officials. According to an official, Rajauria and Rijal had previously been in contact with the office but later became unreachable after switching off their phones.

The office said police found them on Thursday and that they stayed at a hotel overnight before travelling to Kathmandu on Friday. Police sources, however, maintained that the officials were brought to the office while in police custody.

It remains unclear why police involvement was considered necessary or which aspects of the project’s progress the officials were asked to explain.