Armed Nepali police stormed a radio station, detained four reporters and seized equipment to block a BBC interview with Maoist chief Prachanda, the company said on Monday.

The late Sunday raid on independent Radio Sagarmatha (the Nepali name for Mount Everest) is part of an ongoing crackdown on media since King Gyanendra took power in February.

Radio Sagarmatha regularly relays the BBC Nepali Service, which broadcast a rare interview with Prachanda on Sunday, but the Kathmandu station has not so far relayed the interview.

"They gave us two letters from the government asking us to hand over our broadcasting materials to an official and to stop transmitting news bulletins," Radio Sagarmatha station chief Lakshman Upreti told Reuters.

The station had already decided not to play the Prachanda interview and switched to music when it ran on the BBC service, he said.

Ratna Raj Pandey, a spokesman for the Information and Communications Ministry, said the move was to enforce a ban on news broadcasts on private FM stations.

Last month, the government banned news on private stations and introduced harsher fines and prison terms for defamation. It also banned criticism of the royal family.

Criticism of the King and independent reporting of the anti-monarchy Maoist revolt have been banned since King Gyanendra fired the government on Feb. 1, a move that sparked global criticism and the suspension of some military aid.

The King says his action was the only way to end the nine-year-old Maoist revolt that has cost more than 12,500 lives and shattered the economy.

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Nepalese policemen arresting journalists. (AFP)