INDIA has been forced to deny accusations that its blockade of neighbouring Nepal is aimed at restoring that country’s overthrown monarchy.

In a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers on the fringes of the UN general assembly on Wednesday, India’s Sushma Swaraj insisted her government was not seeking to interfere in Nepalese affairs.

“Allegations have been made to us,” Ms Swaraj told Nepal’s Mahendra Bahadur Pandey. “But we are not in favour of reawakening monarchy in Nepal.”