KATHMANDU, Dec 30: Nepal's former interior minister Ramesh Lekhak gave evidence on Monday before an inquiry investigating the deadly crackdown during the September uprising that toppled the government.
Seventy-seven people were killed during the September 8-9 youth-led uprising triggered by a brief government ban on social media, building on public frustration after years of economic stagnation and allegations of entrenched political corruption.
Lekhak, 62, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress party, resigned from the powerful post on September 8, after 20 people were killed in front of parliament in the capital Kathmandu.
The unrest spread nationwide the following day as parliament and offices were set ablaze, resulting in the government's collapse.
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Lekhak insisted he had not ordered a crackdown and claimed he told security forces to avoid any casualties.
"I never gave any directive to use force during the protest," he told reporters, after recording his statement to the commission.
"There is no legal provision that allows the home minister to exercise such power."
Lekhak will continue to give evidence on Tuesday, commission spokesperson Bigyan Raj Sharma told AFP.
Sharma said that a travel ban on Lekhak, as well as ex-prime minister KP Sharma Oli -- who is yet to appear before the inquiry -- remains in force.
Oli has accused the commission of lacking a "constitutional basis".
The commission, led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki, has already recorded statements from key security leaders, including army chief Ashok Raj Sigdel, as well as former police chief Chandra Kuber Khapung.
Nepal will hold elections on March 5, with a caretaker administration led by interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, running the country.
One of her first acts was to establish the commission to investigate the violence.
Karki on Saturday met with Oli, as well as other key leaders, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and Nepali Communist Party coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the first such consultation since the uprising.
