Mayor arrested for distributing substandard essentials in Bara

BARA: Kalaiya Sub-Metropolitan City Mayor Rajesh Raya Yadav has been arrested for distributing substandard essentials as relief in Bara district.

According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Prasad Pangeni, chief at Bara District Police office (DPO), Mayor Yadav, along with his relative, distributed sub-standard pulses from Rangpur-based coldstore to economically marginalised families in the district. "Yadav has been taken into custody for distributing pulses stored for as long as four years," informed SP Pangeni.

The coldstore is Kalaiya-7, registered in the name of the former Nepali Congress lawmaker Radhe Chandra Yadav, is run by his son, Mayor Yadav and nephew Rabindra Yadav, also known as Roshan.

Bara District Administration Office raided the store for the second time on Monday evening and sealed it after confiscating 22,500 kilograms of yellow split gram. "The grams -- packed in 450 sacks each containing 50 kg -- were seized and its samples sent for lab test," informed SP Pangeni.

Prior to this, 320 sacks of grams of 25 kg each had already been seized.

Police, on Monday evening, also arrested three ward chairs of the sub-metropolis – Sarva Narayan Chaudhary of ward 11, Rajan Prasad Kurmi of ward 13 and Mahesh Sah of ward 26.

With the test confirming that the pulse was indeed of poor quality, police have further started investigating the scam. If convicted, the guilty will be subject to one year in prison or Rs 200,000 fine or both.

Hundreds of families in around a dozen wards had received substandard pulses as relief materials as this time of crisis.