He would hobnob with Kathmandu's political elite and throw lavish parties, calm in the belief that his wealth meant he was untouchable.

But that was before the Young Communist League, a group attached to Nepal's Maoists, rolled up.

The modern day Robin Hoods -- as they portray themselves -- snatched Prasai earlier this month, held him overnight and then paraded him in an open air theatre in Kathmandu before delivering him to justice.

"There is widespread corruption in the country," Ganesh Man Pun, the president of the YCL, told AFP, bemoaning government inaction against crime and corruption.

"Our aim is just to help the police administration in maintaining peace, law and order."

But the YCL, which is believed to have 300,000 members, is also seen as a serious threat yet to Nepal's fragile peace process, under which the Maoists are supposed to lock up their arms and end a decade of insurgency.