Rautahat, April 5: Sixteen persons suspected to be involved in setting ablaze the house of Minister of State for Forest and Soil Conservation Mohammad Aftaf Alam located at Rajpur Farahadawa-4 in Rautahat district a few days ago have been released, according to the district police office.

According to information provided by superintendent of police Madan Bahadur Khadka, 11 workers of the cpn-uml including  its district deputy secretary Jayachandra Prasad Patel and five others were released after investigations.

Mr Khadka said Inarbari vdc chairman Kishori Raya Yadav and Ram Chandra Giri of Narkatiya  have been detained for investigation in connection with the kidnapping  of the ddc member Jaya Prakash Kaushal from the ddc premises.

Investigation in connection with the fire is underway.

Meanwhile, the cpn-uml rautahat district committee has protested against the arrest of  its district member Ramashish Saha.

A statement issued by cpn-uml district secretary Sachidananda Saha also protests against the arrest of member of Rautahat district Nepal Press Union Ram Chandra Giri.