Nepal’s ex-prime minister released from custody

Nepal's former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was released Thursday from custody, police said.

He was arrested over his alleged involvement in the killing of protesters during Gen Z-led protests that toppled his government last fall.

He was taken to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in the capital Kathmandu, where he will undergo a kidney operation, senior police officer Pawan Kumar Bhattarai told Anadolu.

Oli's wife, Radhika Shakya, received him at the hospital.

Oli, 74, a kidney patient, had been admitted to the hospital after police arrested him in late March. Police had recorded his statement there.

Former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak was also released from custody on Thursday.

The release came after the Supreme Court ordered police not to extend the detention indefinitely.

At least 77 protesters, mostly youth, were killed and 700 others injured in September last year when widespread demonstrations broke out following a ban on social media companies, leading to the ouster of Oli's government.

Oli, who also heads the Communist Party of Nepal, blamed his arrest on political vendetta.

New Prime Minister Balen Shah, a 35-year-old former rapper and the youngest person to hold the post, previously served as mayor of Kathmandu.