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Kathmandu, November 25: Police have released information about the group that rode around revving Bullet motorcycles on the day of the Gen-Z protests, on September 8.

Kathmandu District Police Range made public details about Tenzing Dawa Lama, a member of Tibetan Original Blood (TOB), and his group, who were seen during the Gen-Z protest on September 8.

At a press conference on Monday, the Range disclosed Lama’s background. Lama had been arrested on October 12 from Kapan, Budhanilkantha Municipality-11. According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Pawan Kumar Bhattarai, Lama faced a case of indecent behavior at the Kathmandu District Administration Office from October 12 to November 5. He was released on a bail of Rs 7,500 in that case.

Lama is also facing cases related to forgery of documents, citizenship, and passport. These cases are currently under investigation. SP Bhattarai also said that another case related to marijuana is being investigated against him.

TOB has 57 members
According to police, TOB was formed on 10 June 2024 as a bikers’ group. Lama himself is the president, and the group has 57 members.SP Bhattarai said that police have placed 26 members of this group on “notice.” On the day of the Gen-Z protest, September 8, the group reached New Baneshwar via Bijulibazar on 20 motorcycles, led by Lama. Lama and his group operate a tattoo house named “TOB” at Phulbari Complex in Boudha since 2017. The group’s ideology appears to have originated from that tattoo house.

Police say TOB has not been found to be involved in “Free Tibet” activities in Nepal. The group mainly appears to be focused on meet-ups and motorcycle rides among friends, as well as social service, Bhattarai said.

Lama himself is the designer of the TOB logo. The group has been active on WhatsApp and Instagram. Although active as a group, TOB is not officially registered anywhere.

Citizenship and passport forgery, parents unverified
According to SP Bhattarai, records show Lama was born February 3, 1997. His permanent address is listed as Kathmandu Metropolitan City-6. He acquired Nepali citizenship from the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, on 28 June 2022. Based on that, he obtained a passport on 25 July 2022.

His citizenship lists his father as Krishna Bahadur Lama and mother as Maya Lama. However, according to police, the identity of his parents has not been verified from anywhere. Police suspect he forged documents to acquire citizenship and subsequently the passport; an investigation on forgery charges is ongoing.

Lama used to claim that he had passed SLC, but when checked, his academic records were not found in the concerned school, SP Bhattarai said.

Plan made on September 7, protest on September 8
After the Gen-Z protest, police began investigating when a video went viral on social media showing someone wearing a TOB T-shirt with another individual holding a pistol behind him.

It was later revealed that the video was not from September 8 but was filmed six months earlier at Bijulibazar while Lama was producing a music video. The weapon seen in the video was found to be non-lethal, bought from a sports and entertainment retail shop in Chabahil, Bhattarai said.

While investigating the slogan “I want my country back, my country is my pride” shouted at the Bijulibazar Bridge on 8 September, Lama stated that he had “felt he was Tibetan since childhood.”

On September 7, a notice about participating in the protest the next day was posted in TOB’s Instagram group. According to police, the post was made by Sonam Sherpa in an Instagram group called “The Originals Brother (TOB).” The group discussed gathering at the tea shop “Chiya Basti” near Gopikrishna Hall on September 8.

As planned, Lama’s group gathered at Chiya Basti near Gopikrishna Hall at 11 a.m. on September 8. They reached Bijulibazar at 11:30 a.m. on 20 motorcycles. Lama and his group joined the protest rally, revving their bikes. They were active in provoking the crowd, SP Bhattarai said. “During that time, he shouted, ‘I want my country back, my country is my pride…”

People’s News Monitoring Service