Saturday, May 13 2006 12:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: Nepal Government has appointed three district chiefs in the Kathmandu valley, replacing the senior officials who were involved in suppressing the pro-democracy movement of the seven-party alliance last month.

The appointment of Chief District Officers (CDOs) of the three districts of the valley -- Kathmandu, Lalitpur andBhaktapur took place on Thursday, the Home Ministry sources said here yesterday.

Sthaneshwore Devkota has been appointed CDO of Kathmandu while Anand Raj Pokhrel and Baburam Lamichhane have been given the charge of of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts respectively, they said.

The Government appointed the three CDOs replacing the senior officials who were active in cracking down thepro-democracy movement during which at least 21 protesters were killed and 5,000 injured last month.

The Government, meanwhile, has given Om Bhakta Rana, Basudev Oli and Dhan Singh Karki charges in acting capacity of the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department respectively after suspending the chiefs of the three security services yesterday.

It had yesterday also arrested five former ministers of King Gyanendra's regime, including Home Minister Kamal Thapa and Foreign Minister Ramesh Pandey, under Public Security Actfor their involvement in misappropriation of government funds and abuse of Human rights, a Cabinet source said.

A probe commission had recommended suspension of Army Chief Pyarjung Thapa too, but a decision on the matter would be made only after it is taken up in the Security Council meeting.

The government also suspended other senior police officials, including Additional IGPs Rajendra Bahadur Singh, Roop Sagar Moktan and Krishna Basnet as well as Armed Police Force AIG Ravi Raj Thapa and SSPs Madhav Thapa and Durja Kumar Rai for their direct involvement in excessive use of force to suppress the movement, according to 'The Kathmandu Post'.

Travel restrictions have been put on other ministers of the the King's regime, it is learnt.