KATHMANDU, Feb 27, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Nepal's former police chief ordered the 
use of lethal force during the September 2025 anti-corruption protests, a BBC 
investigation revealed.

At least 77 people were killed in the September 8-9 protests, the deadliest 
unrest since the end of the 2006 civil war, which ultimately forced the 
government to collapse. No one has been held accountable for the deaths as 
yet.

The report, which aired on Thursday, comes ahead of the March 5 elections, in 
which major parties from the coalition government toppled by the uprising are 
seeking to return to power.

Nepal's police did not immediately respond to AFP request for comment on 
Friday.

The BBC reported that police said they had been "faced with an overwhelming 
situation where we had to respond to multiple incidents simultaneously".

The violence is subject to an ongoing public inquiry, in which the ex-police 
chief Chandra Kuber Khapung has submitted a closed statement, but the BBC's 
findings represent one of the most comprehensive public examinations of the 
events so far.

The investigation, which cites an internal police document as well as drawing 
on more than 4,000 videos and photographs, eyewitness reports and reports 
from security officials, analysed how the youth-led protests spiralled into 
violence.

- 'Lethal force' -

Protesters, organised loosely under a Gen Z banner, took to the streets of 
Kathmandu after the government briefly banned several social media platforms.

"Someone using the call sign 'Peter 1' told his officers to 'deploy necessary 
force' 10 minutes after a curfew had come into effect, and after repeated 
requests by officers on the ground to use lethal force," the BBC reported, 
adding the call sign was used by police chief Khapung.

The BBC said Khapung did not deny issuing the order, but police stated it 
came only after he received authorisation from a government security 
committee headed by a senior civil servant.

Ex-prime minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, who quit a day later, has also 
denied ordering security forces to open fire on protesters.

Oli, 74, who is seeking a return to power, had told AFP that he blames 
"infiltrators" for the violence.

The BBC said its investigation had "found no evidence to substantiate the 
claim" that organised groups acting on behalf of political interests helped 
drive the destruction.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a report in November, detailed how security 
forces "used disproportionate force", including "indiscriminately firing on 
protesters multiple times".

HRW, citing pathologists at a Kathmandu morgue, said they determined 35 cases 
of death had been due to "high velocity gunshot wounds" to the head, neck, 
chest, or abdomen.

The BBC also analysed six shootings, stating that it did not see "any of the 
victims engaging in violence".

The unrest spread nationwide the following day, fuelled by wider anger at 
economic hardship and corruption. Parliament and government offices were set 
ablaze, and the government collapsed.