KATHMANDU: Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau arrested senior leader and vice chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), former minister Bikram Pandey, on Friday. According to police, Pandey was taken into custody on allegations of hacking an e-bidding website to secure contracts in his favor.

Pandey was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives from Chitwan Constituency No. 3 in the 2022 elections.

Previously, in 2018, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed a corruption case against him over substandard work in the Sikta Irrigation Project. In that case, Pandey was released after posting a bail amount of Rs 40 million Nepali rupees.