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Ghimire, arrested on Wednesday following publication of an article by underground Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai in his paper, is in police custody and will be produced in a special cases court at Anamnagar, his lawyer Ramkrishna Niala said.
"We will also file a habeas corpus petition in the supreme court seeking their release," he said. The other two arrested with Ghimire are Kailash Sirohiya, managing director of Kantipur Publications and Binod Raj Gyawali, the daily's director.
Bhattarai's article alleged a nexus between India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, America's Central Intelligence Agency and the palace in the June 1 massacre of King Birendra and other royals.
While Ghimire's arrest has been widely condemned by journalists and opposition political parties, who termed it as an attack on the freedom of press, the government has justified the action, saying no press in the name of freedom can spread ill-feelings against friendly countries, raise fingers at the head of the state and incite the army.
Even today, scores of journalists took out a procession from New Road Peepal Bot to the Hanuman Dhoka police station,where he is being kept, and demanded his release, through a memorandum submitted to the home minister.
Meanwhile, in the first official confirmation, Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola said army doctor Capt Rajiv Shahi, a close relative of the royal family, was being questioned after he charged the late Crown Prince Dipendra with killing his father King Birendra, mother Queen Aishwarya and other royals.
"He (Shahi) is being questioned," Bastola told PTI when asked about Shahi's disappearance after charges he levelled at a press briefing at the Birendra military hospital on Thursday.
Bastola, however, said he was not aware of the whereabouts of the captain, son-in-law of the late Dipendra, the assassinated King Birendra's youngest brother.
Shahi had claimed that he was an eyewitness to the gruesome tragedy on June 1 night at the Narayanhity palace.
Inquiries at Shahi's residence and the military hospital, where he works, evoked a stock response: 'We don't know'.
Initial reports suggested that Shahi was being questioned as he had held a press briefing at the military hospital without prior authorisation.
Many people have dismissed Shahi's allegations, which they say were made to influence the findings of the high-level inquiry panel probing into the incident.
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