Kathmandu, November 11

Kathmandu District Court today issued an arrest warrant against Padma Jyoti, chair man of Jyoti Group, in a case related to housing fraud.

A single bench of Justice Shree Krishna Bhattarai of KDC has permitted Metropolitan Police Range, Teku, to arrest Jyoti for further investigation, confirmed KDC Registrar Ananda Prasad Shrestha.

The arrest warrant follows the arrest of Padma Jyoti’s younger brother and Vice-chairman of Jyoti Group Roop Jyoti in the same case. On Thursday, police had arrested Roop, who is also the former state minister of finance and renowned industrialist, and his daughter Suruchi Jyoti from Tribhuvan International Airport on their return from Singapore.

Earlier, a case was filed by Bijendra Krishna Malla against Jyoti Group. Malla had complained that he paid Rs 27.6 million in instalments since September 2014 for a house at Bansbari, Budanilkantha, to Landmark Developers, in which the Jyoti Group has a stake, but he still has to get possession of the house.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry has expressed its deep concern about Jyotis’ arrest. “The arrest of members of Jyoti Group has created havoc in the entire private sector. Such activities will certainly affect the business environment and discourage investment in the long run,” said Shekhar Golchha, senior vice-president of FNCCI.

Stating that the government could have launched an investigation into the case without taking the Jyotis into custody, Golchha said frequent arrest of industrialists in this manner would have a lasting adverse impact on the business environment and overall economy of the country.