GOLD PRICE RECORDS A NEW HIGH Kathmandu, 5 May: Gold was traded Friday for a record high of Rs. 48,010 per tola Friday. The previous high was Rs. 47,840 per tola. Price increased after a hike in customs duty despite a fall in in the international price of the yellow metal. nnnn FORMER UMLMINISTER SENT TO JAIL Kathmandu, 5 May: Police today [Friday] arrested Khagendra Prasad Prasain, a former minister, on fraud charge. Police picked up Prasain from his rented house in Koteshwor. Prasain, a CPN-ML leader, was culture minister in the Jhala Nath Khanal-led Cabinet, The Himalayan Times reports. DSP Dhiraj Pratap Singh said he was arrested based on a complaint filed by Durga Pariyar, Prasain’s chauffeur when he was minister, of Lamjung. Prasain was produced before Kathmandu District Court today itself. According to police, Prasain, in cahoots with Basanta Raj Syangtan of Sindhuli, had swindled Rs 5.55 lakh, in two installments, from Pariyar by promising the latter four anas of land in Sipadol, Bhaktapur, in December last year. Pariyar realised that he was duped only after officials at the Land Revenue Office, Bhaktapur, informed him that the part of the land promised to him was registered in someone else’s name. According to Pariyar, Prasain had convinced him that the land was in the name of Syangtan’s brother. The former minister had also signed an agreement paper reached between Syangtans and Pariyar. The Syangtan brothers are at large. The court today sent Prasain to five-day judicial custody on fraud charge. Prasain is in the custody of Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhoka. nnnn