The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to explain in writing why journalist Kanak Mani Dixit was detained.
In response to a habeas corpus petition filed by Dixit's wife Shanta Dixit, a single bench of officiating Chief Justice Sushila Karki issued a show cause notice on Dixit's arrest.
The court also directed the anti-graft body to present the Himalmedia co-publisher in the SC on Monday next week.
Claiming that the CIAA detained Dixit illegally, the petitioner had also challenged the Special Court's decision to allow the anti-graft body to keep him in custody for 10 days.
The CIAA had arrested Dixit on last Friday accusing him of 'amassing disproportionate wealth' by abusing his power as the Chair of Sajha Yatayat, a public transport company. The Himalmedia chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) says Dixit's detention is an act of vengeance by the CIAA chief Lok Man Singh Karki. Dixit had criticised Karki's appointment as the CIAA chief in 2013, arguing that he was found guilty by an independent probe committee of suppressing the pro-democracy movement in 2006.
International organisations of journalists, including the IFJ and the CPJ, have condemned Dixit's detention, and have urged the authorities in Nepal to immediately release him.