Kathmandu – Days after escaping alongside 13,500 others in a giant jailbreak during deadly anti-corruption protests in Nepal, Avinash Rai rubbed his belly after a meal — and strolled back into prison. The 46-year-old convicted smuggler stunned relatives when he turned up at their Kathmandu home during last week’s chaos, in which protesters torched the parliament and toppled the government.
The violence left at least 73 dead and saw security collapse across the capital, with inmates streaming out of fire-damaged jails countrywide.
“We were in a situation where saving our own lives was a challenge,” Rai, with two small bags slung on his shoulders, told AFP just before he surrendered himself at the gates of Kathmandu’s Nakhu prison. “There were no cops here — there was massive arson and vandalism. The gate was open after that.”
He emerged from prison into violent crowds and fires burning across the city.
“It was a really bad time out,” he said referring to the mayhem as he escaped.
“Now I’m going in.”
Youth-led protests in the Himalayan nation began on September 8, sparked by a short-lived ban on social media, but fuelled by anger at corruption and long-standing economic woes.
At least 19 people were killed in a crackdown.
A day later, anger over the deaths escalated, triggering an outpouring of rage nationwide — with government buildings set alight and violence erupting in multiple prisons.
Rai, jailed for smuggling contraband across the India-Nepal border, has served 20 months of a 22-month sentence and appealed for the new government to “show some leniency”.
