Kathmandu:
A 35-year-old Nepalese man has been arrested for tattooing the likeness of his friend's wife on his chest, the first case of its kind in the country.
Kumar Kesi from Kavre district east of Kathmandu claimed that his love had grown after he tattooed the woman's picture on his chest.
"Kumar has been kept in police custody under the Public Offence Act as there is no law related to the act of tattooing a woman's picture," police officer Arun Kumar Bisi said.
According to police, the case is the first of its kind in the country.
Mr Kumar said he fell in love with the woman after she was introduced to him by her husband four years ago. "We began to love each other after our meetings," he claimed.
He had used a photo given to him by the woman some years ago for the tattoo, which features the woman with her hair tied and a big 'tika' on her forehead.
After he showed off the tattoo to his friends during Diwali last year, word about it spread like wildfire.
Mr Kumar said: "She used to meet me in Banepa and Kathmandu on the pretext that she was ill, and had to go for check up."
He and the woman's husband were dump truck drivers at a local industry.
The husband forced his wife to disclose their relationship and filed a case against Mr Kumar. Following the complaint, police arrested the latter recently.
The woman, however, said Kumar was only her friend.