Officials said that police woke the customs officers, including Chief Mitra Lal Regmi, at around midnight and took them to the CDO´s residence. They were detained for three hours, during which Shrestha threatened to take action against them. [break]
“He mainly vented ire against us, saying that customs official´s statement at the court weakened his position in a case related to Bishal Chemicals and its chewing tobacco factory,” said customs officer Man Bahadur Paudel, who was detained along with Rajendra Chudal and Gopal Khatri.
Police had raided the factories on June 25 on direct order of CDO Shrestha, following which its promoter Bhawani Shankar Bohara had lodged a case against the District Administration Office (DAO) at the Biratnagar Appellate Court on July 1.
However, Shrestha was irked after the joint bench of Judges Janardan Bahadur Khadka and Dwarika Man Joshi issued interim order against the DAO on Tuesday.
“He blamed us for not getting the verdict in favor of DAO,” said Paudel.
The action drew instant protest from the customs employees. They burnt tires and chanted slogans against the CDO from the early morning and brought customs operations to a halt.
They have taken a stance of not withdrawing the protest unless the government takes action against CDO Shrestha.
Shrestha, meanwhile, said that he had called the officials at his residence late at night because he needed to hold urgent consultations with them. “As a CDO I can summon any government staffers at anytime for consultation,” he told myrepublica.com.
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