KATHMANDU, AUGUST 10

Nepali Congress lawmaker Sunil Sharma was arrested today by the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepali Police in connection with fake education certificate.

Sharma, who is also a medical doctor, is charged with creating fake Indian certificate of Intermediate of Science (high school) in 1996. Based upon fake certificate, he had joined the MBBS programme and received his medical doctor certificate from Nepal Medical Council, according to police.

The CIB said Sharma's arrest was based on a letter from the National Education Board on 21 July 2022 which mentioned that Sharma's ISc certificate with Roll Code 6504 and Roll No 10117 was 'not verified'.

After the arrest of lawmaker Sharma, Chief of CIB and AIG of Nepal Police Kiran Bajracharya informed the Speaker of House of Representatives Dev Raj Sharma that the arrest was made upon the request of Nepal Medical Council.

The letter reads, 'Lawmaker Sunil Sharma, representing Morang Constituency No 3, has been arrested under criminal offence as per the complaint filed by the Nepal Medical Council which mentioned that some doctors who acquired their fake Indian certificates got registered in Nepal Medical Council or got enrolled in medical certificate examination conducted by the Council.'

Lawmaker Sharma was arrested from his residence in Golfutar this afternoon. A police source also said the CIB had initiated a special mission, 'Foxtrot Charlie' to identify such persons who acquired MBBS degree by submitting fake certificate.

Police claimed that other doctors had also been arrested in the case but they had not disclosed any other names yet.

Before being arrested, lawmaker Sharma told his fellow lawmaker from Nepali Congress Ajaybabu Siwakoti that he was framed in a fake case as personnel vendetta by Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat. 'He called me just before police arrested him and said that he was framed in a false accusation as he was constantly raising question about the recent 100-kg gold smuggling racket,' Siwakoti told THT.

Lawmaker Sharma had accused Home Minister Shrestha and Finance Minister Mahat of involvement in the scam and sought their resignation. In reply, Minister Mahat had said Sharma had expressed his rage after realising that his hospital would not be entitled to government insurance service that he had been seeking from the finance minister for some time.

Lawmaker Sharma is considered close to the Shekhar Koirala camp in the Congress.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 11, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.