The 48-year-old was traced to a restaurant in Mustang after allegedly hiding his identity while working in Mumbai, Delhi and Nepal’s remote Himalayan region.
POKHARA, Nepal, October 31, 2026.
Nepal Police have arrested a convicted rapist who escaped from Kaski Prison during the Gen Z protests and remained at large for more than a year, after tracking him down at a restaurant in the remote Mustang district of northern Nepal.
The accused, identified as 48-year-old Narayan Ghimire, had been sentenced to 11 years, eight months and one day in prison by the Lamjung District Court for raping a 16-year-old girl who worked at his hotel in the Marsyangdi area of Lamjung district.
According to a report published by Onlinekhabar, Ghimire was arrested by a special police team deployed from the Nepal Police Provincial Office in Pokhara. He was subsequently returned to Kaski Prison on Saturday after the completion of the required legal procedures.
From prison escape to a cross-border flight
Ghimire was among hundreds of inmates who escaped from Kaski Prison during the unrest associated with Nepal’s Gen Z protests in September 2025.
He had originally been detained in May 2022. In July 2025, after heavy rainfall damaged Lamjung Prison, inmates were transferred to other facilities, including Kaski Prison in Pokhara. Ghimire was among those relocated.
Following his escape, he reportedly spent the night at a hotel in Pokhara before travelling through Syangja and Rupandehi districts to the Belahiya border crossing, from where he entered India.
In Mumbai, he returned to a restaurant where he had reportedly worked more than a decade earlier. He worked there for approximately 27 days before travelling to the Somnath temple and subsequently moving to Delhi.
Police investigations indicated that he worked at another restaurant in Delhi while concealing his identity.
Hiding in the remote Himalayas
Ghimire later returned to Nepal by bus, travelling through Butwal and Pokhara before heading to Mustang, a mountainous district bordering the Tibetan region of China.
According to the police account reported by Onlinekhabar, he found work at a hotel in Chaile, in the Baragung Muktichhetra area of Mustang, where he reportedly remained for around nine months while hiding his identity.
He subsequently moved to another establishment, Liban Restaurant, in the same locality.
Despite the remote location, a special police team continued to investigate his whereabouts. Acting on confidential information and following sustained surveillance, officers eventually located and arrested him.
The arrest highlights the challenges faced by Nepal’s law enforcement agencies in tracing prisoners who escaped during the widespread unrest.
Prison security concerns remain
The escape of inmates during the Gen Z protests created a significant security challenge for Nepal, with prisoners fleeing from multiple correctional facilities amid the turmoil.
According to Onlinekhabar, 753 prisoners escaped from Kaski Prison during the unrest. Of these, 110 people, including 11 foreign nationals, were still at large at the time of the report.
The authorities have continued efforts to locate the remaining escapees, including individuals serving sentences for serious offences.
Ghimire’s arrest marks another step in those efforts, while the continued absence of other prisoners remains a concern for Nepal’s security agencies.
Source: Onlinekhabar, Nepal.
