Nepalese police present before media, arrested underground group leaders National Defence Armys Ram Prasad Mainali, center left, and another group Ranbir Shenas leader Pullin Bishwas also known as Tribhuban Yadhav, center right, in Biratnagar, 350 kilometers south east of Katmandu, Nepal. Mainalis National Defense Army had claimed responsibility for bombing of a Catholic church in Katmandu and an attack on a Muslim mosque in southern Nepal. —AP Photo/Manoj Shrestha

Ram Prasad Mainali of Hindu extremist group the National Defence Army, which says it wants to restore the Hindu monarchy abolished in 2008, was arrested in the southeastern town of Jhapa, according to police.

'Acting on a tip-off, we caught Mainali while hiding at one of his relative's houses,' said Devendra Subedi, chief of the Morang district police office. 'He has confessed to us that he masterminded a series of blasts in various churches and mosques killing at least eight people.

'We are investigating all his criminal activities in the past,' said Subedi by phone from Jhapa, 280 kms southeast of Kathmandu.

The police officer said Mainali led one of Nepal's most powerful armed outfits, threatening peace and security.

The group was involved in a powerful bomb explosion at a Catholic Church in May this year in which at least four people were killed and 14 others injured. It was also involved in blasts at mosques last year that killed at least four people, AFP reported.

And it was involved in targeting individuals and bombing government offices in various parts of the country over the last two years, he said.