A dispute between locals and police in the Himalayan district of Dolpa has escalated. The dispute has escalated between the Area Police Office Khadang in Tripurasundari Municipality-5 and locals of Lha village in the same ward.

After the dual dispute escalated, the locals of Lha vandalized the police post and four policemen, including a local, went missing.

On Friday evening, the police tried to check Jun Rokaya, a 34-year-old local youth from Lha village, at the Chhepke bridge near the post on suspicion of drug trafficking. Before the police could check him, Rokaya jumped into the Thulo Bheri River and disappeared, according to the police.

After the dispute between the locals and the police that has been going on for two days has not been resolved, the locals vandalized the police post on Saturday. Three of the ten policemen deployed at the post were injured in the dispute between the locals and the police, and four policemen, including a local youth, went missing, said Ruk Bahadur Khadka, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Dolpa.

According to him, "There was information that the missing youth was delivering brown sugar to a truck driver. Based on that information, the police had started checking far from the post. However, before the police could check him, he jumped into the river in panic,' DSP Khadka told Kantipur.

'There will be a detailed investigation into the incident. The locals are coming to the district to hold talks between the locals and the police. It is not yet possible to say what the agreement will be.' After the situation became abnormal, DSP Khadka himself was deployed to the incident site, but after saying that he would hold talks, he returned halfway.

Even now, a large number of police officers from various units of the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police have been mobilized to the incident site. Meanwhile, the locals have demanded that they be brought back safely as soon as possible, saying that they were stopped and disappeared because of the police.