KAVRE, August 10

A case was filed against 200 fake tremor victims at District Administration Office in Kavre.

The issue came to light after scores of locals whose houses were partially damaged in the April 25 temblor received the government relief amount of Rs 15,000 for construction of temporary shelters.

DAO has sought explanation from locals as the fake victims misused the relief amount.

Arjun Rijal, officer of local administration office, said as many as 50 persons had given their explanations at the office as of yesterday. “The office sought their explanation after a case was lodged in DAO regarding the misuse of relief amount by fake victims,” he informed.

During the explanation, 40 of them said they had received the government relief amount under the law of land, while 10 persons vowed to return the amount.

The local administration has asked advice from the Ministry of Home Affairs after the locals claimed that though they were not legally separated from their families, they had been living separately.

Chief District Officer Sudarsan Dhakal informed that his office was seeking advice from the home ministry on the matter.

Earlier, an FIR was lodged at DAO against fake victims of Patlekhet VDC. Following which, as many as 27 such persons returned the amount to the concerned VDC secretary.

Similarly, a team deployed from the prime minister and National Vigilance Centre found during investigation that 120 fake victims of Mahadevsthan VDC had received the relief amount. A week ago, the authority had directed the concerned VDC secretary to seize the earthquake victim identity cards and stop the facilities.

Rijal added that police were searching for the fake victims and bringing them for explanation.

Earlier, as many as 560 fake victims had returned the victim ID cards which was distributed at Panchkhal Municipality’s wards 16 and 17 in Kavre.

The local administration office said it had been preparing to provide ID cards to the real victims after the investigation.

Nepali Congress local party representative Kiran Shrestha had signed some of the IDs by mentioning Rs 1,500 instead of Rs 15,000.

Local CPN-UML, UCPN-Maoist, CPN-Maoist, among other party representatives, had filed the case after fake ID cards were distributed at the DAO.

Panchkhal Municipality returned the ID cards and sacked ward secretary Indra Maya Kunwar. CDO Dhakal had also directed to sack Shrestha from the political mechanism.