Nepal's veteran mountaineer Mingma Sherpa was detained over the weekend for his suspected involvement in Maoist activities, an army official said on Monday.

Security forces arrested Mingma, who has scaled the 8,850 metre Mount Everest ten times, from his house at Bouddha, Kathmandu, on Saturday night for "suspicious activities and possessing sophisticated communication equipments".

However, he was released after 24 hours as during interrogation he was found innocent, the official at the Public Relations Directorate of the Royal Nepal Army said.

"We arrested him on the basis of a report that meetings of suspected people were conducted at his residence at Bouddha and also he possessed sophisticated communication equipments," he said.

Mingma possessed communication equipment used for navigation during mountaineering.

Earlier, the Everest Summiteers Association had issued a statement demanding his immediate release.