New Delhi, Dec. 31: A senior Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) member was detained and questioned at Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Monday before he could catch a Royal Nepal Airlines flight.

He flew to Kathmandu only the following day after he was released by immigration department officials.

Ishwar Pokharel, a CPN (UML) central committee member, was questioned by intelligence agencies following reports that he and party general secretary Madhav Nepal had sneaked across to India and met Maoists leaders in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, last month.

Pokharel was in the capital to attend a meeting on Sunday of the Migrant Nepalese Association, allegedly a front organisation of the CPN (UML).

Intelligence agencies were keeping a watch on his movements and finally tracked him down at the airport, where he was scheduled to catch a 7.30 pm flight to Kathmandu.

Pokharel was questioned at length over his alleged meeting with the Maoists. The interrogation focused on his meeting with senior Maoist leader Pushp Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Comrade Prachanda.

Nepal and Pokharel met Prachanda around the time Nepalese Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa visited Delhi in mid-November to apprise his Indian counterpart, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, of the volatile political situation in his country.

Thapa also urged Vajpayee to attend the Saarc summit in Islamabad.

Pokharel was part of a three-member CPN (UML) committee formed earlier this year to assess how far his party could go in resolving differences with the Maoists.

India has been concerned at the increasing influence of Maoists in Nepal. The October 1 attack by the People’s War Group on Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has hardened Delhi’s attitude towards the armed rebels in Nepal. India believes the Nepalese Maoists have close links with groups like the PWG.