Protest and Band in Kupondole for RS 10 ; Accident in Chitwan kills 14

Irate microbus owners protesting against the beating up of a microbus driver by Maoist cadres on Tuesday staged demonstrations and obstructed traffic in Lalitpur's Kupondole area for five hours since early morning.

According to the protesters, driver Saroj Shrestha and conductor Tirtha Shrestha of a microbus (Ba 1 Ja 5916) plying the Lagankhel-Ratnapark route sustained serious injuries after being beaten up by the cadres of Maoist affiliated Tamang Mukti Morcha (TMM) yesterday.

According to the victims, the TMM cadres, who had boarded the vehicle at Kupondole, began beating up the after the conductor refused to accept a torn 10 rupee note while collecting fares.

The driver and the conductor further claimed that the cadres took them to their party office where they were tied up and meted out further beatings.

Meanwhile At least 14 people were killed and 31 injured as a Birgunj bound bus from Kathmandu veered off the road to plunge into the Trishuli river at the Prithvi Highway's Darechowk stretch in Chitwan in Monday night.

The injured have been rushed to Kathmandu and Bharatpur and are undergoing treatment at the Bir Hospital in the capital and Bharatpur's Bharatpur Hospital and Medical College. According to the police, most of the travelers in the bus were Indian nationals. The bus fell some 130 metres down from the highway.