OPPONENTS of Nepal’s new constitution attacked a police station on the country’s blockaded border with India yesterday, leading to the death of an Indian man.

Police opened fire after ethnic Madhesi protesters threw petrol bombs at the station in the town of Birgunj, killing the Indian who was among the attackers.

Police official Raju Bahadur Shrestha identified the dead man as Ashish Kumar Ram.

He said six officers at the police station had been injured.

“One of our officers was almost burnt to death. We managed to rescue him,” Mr Shrestha said.

An Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: “Issues facing Nepal are political in nature and cannot be resolved by force.

“Causes underlying the present state of confrontation need to addressed by Nepal credibly and effectively.”

Indians and Nepalese are permitted to cross the border freely without documents or visas.

Earlier, police in Birgunj cleared protesters from the border, allowing 205 vehicles that had been stranded there for the last 40 days to cross into the neighbouring Indian town of Raxaul.

Five protesters were arrested in the pre-dawn operation to remove them and their tent city.

But Indian border officials continued to hold back lorries bringing food and fuel supplies, ostensibly out of fear of attacks by Madhesi groups.

India’s unofficial blockade has caused a crippling fuel shortage in Nepal.

While New Delhi claims that it is not state policy, Nepalese ministers have accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on taking revenge on Nepal for adopting a secular, republican constitution in September, following on from the 2008 overthrow of King Gyanendra.

Violent protests against the constitution by Madhesi groups, which oppose the division of their homeland in southern Nepal between two newly demarcated states, and the monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RRP) have killed at least 45 people since August.

In a bid to resolve the crisis, Nepal’s communist Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli appointed RRP leader Kamal Thapa and Madhesi People’s Rights Forum leader Bijaya Gachhadar as joint deputy prime ministers.

Some progress has also been made in talks between the government and Madhesi groups.

Mr Thapa said the government would address the Madhesis’ demands through discussions with other political parties.