Deuba cleared of 1 graft charge

Deuba, sacked by King Gyanen-dra when he seized power, was arrested in late April on charges of corruption.

"You have been cleared of the charge of misappropriating government funds," commission chairman Bhakta Bahadur Koirala told the commission courtroom where Deuba was sitting along with six other members of his former cabinet who had been accused of the same offence.

The commission, set up by the king after he grabbed power February 1, had accused Deuba and the six others of distributing 3.86 million rupees (54,842 dollars) from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to party activists and relatives during a religious festival last October.

"The whole thing was done to defame us. It was character assassination," Deuba told reporters afterwards before being taken back to the detention centre where he was still being held on another charge of corruption.

The other corruption charge against the former premier involves a contract for a 13.1-million-dollar road project granted when Deuba was in power.

Earlier, communist rebels have freed 90 high school students who were seized from their classrooms last week, officials said yesterday.

The students, who were reported to be in good health, returned home Sunday to the village of Paudiamrai, about 200 miles west of Katmandu, said Durga Pokhrel, the chief administrative officer of Gulmi district.

Meanwhile, at least 12 security personnel were killed and six others injured in a clash with Maoist rebels attempting to capture arms from the military in southwestern Nepal, a senior army officer said yesterday.

The fighting, which took place on Saturday at Khandaha village in the district of Arghakhanchi, 335km southwest of the capital, lasted nearly three hours, Lieutenant Colonel Navjiv Rana said.

"Among the dead, six were soldiers and six policemen while six others were injured during the clashes with the rebels," he said.