KATHMANDU, JULY 4

Kathmandu District Court today allowed police to investigate the accused in the Lalita Niwas land grab scam under organised crime.

Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police said the Court also allowed all nine arrestees in the scam to be sent to judicial custody for seven more days under the same offence.

Those sent to custody are: former commissioner of the Election Commission Sudhir Kumar Shah who is accused of working as land mafia in transferring government land to private ownership while he was working at Bhaktapur land revenue office. Owner of Bhatbhateni Super Market Min Bahadur Gurung who is also accused of buying property and being an accomplice of the land mafia, Ramesh Kumar Pokharel, former chief of Samarjung Company under the home ministry, who is accused of masterminding the government recommendation to transfer the land ownership to individuals. Similarly, Dev Narayan Maharjan and Babu Raja Maharjan, who had allegedly taken bribe money from land mafia to play the role of fake unregistered tenants, have also been arrested. Shivaji Bhattarai, the then Ward No 5 chair of Kathmandu Metropolitan City is accused of providing fake recommendation to the Maharjan duo. Similarly, Ghaman Kumar Karki, employee of the office of Kathmandu Survey Department, and former employees of Dillibazaar Land Revenue Office Dharma Prasad Gautam and Gopal Karki are also in custody.

Police had sought permission from the court to investigate the accused offenders under the heading of organised crime. Earlier, they were investigated for forgery of government documents.

As per the existing law, police can seek judicial custody in organised crime accused for 60 days to complete the investigation, while the case of forging documents will have to be completed within 25 days.

Prevention of Organised Crime Act 2013 says that if three or more persons are involved in criminal offences such as corruption or forgery, it falls under organised crime. As per the rules, the accused arrestees, if proven guilty, can be slapped five years imprisonment and fined up to Rs 500,000 in such cases. The accused, however, will also have to face a couple of other offences including forgery and offence against the state.

Police, which once failed to provide enough evidences to indict the accused have reopened the cases saying it has carried out detailed investigation with ample evidences.

CIB, which has been investigating the case, told a press meet earlier that they have unfolded four different stages wherein the land mafia, government employees, and political leaders colluded to transfer the government owned Lalita Niwas area of 143 ropani (over 78,000 square feet) area to private ownership.

Lalita Niwas, the complex that houses the prime minister's residence, Nepal Rastra Bank's central office and the houses of VIPs, is government-owned land. But, police have concluded that the transfer of land to private ownership began from early 1990s largely due to the land mafia and government employees and approval in the form of government decision time and again.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.