KATHMANDU, JUNE 28
Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has expressed confidence it will crack the Lalita Niwas land grab case this time around. It has also claimed that detailed investigation and enough proofs have been gathered to put the scammers behind bars.
Earlier, the Office of Kathmandu District Attorney on 2 January 2022 had refused to file case against the accused saying police investigation and evidences were not enough. Back then, the CIB had filed case against more than 400 people related to the scam wherein land mafia, political leaders and government employees illegally transferred government land at Lalita Niwas (the complex that houses the prime minister's residence, Nepal Rastra Bank's central office and houses of VIPs), to private ownership.
However, police have now reopened the case. Organising a press meet today, CIB Chief Additional Inspector General Kiran Bajracharya said they conducted intensive investigation and gathered ample evidences to take the accused perpetrators to court this time around. "We have no doubs that the case will be filed this time around at the court given the evidences with police after prolonged investigation," AIG Bajracharya said.
The CIB said a total of over 143 ropani (over 78,000 square feet) area of government property was transferred to private ownership in four different stages. It concluded that most of the land was acquired by the government from Subarna Shumsher Rana by paying proper compensation, but was illegally transferred in collusion with employees of the office of land revenue who creating various fake documents.
In the second phase, land mafia and government employees created fake Mohi (unregistered tenant) of the land and took control of over around 25 ropani land. The Mohis were paid some amount of money, as per the police. In the third phase, an additional 25 ropani land was acquired from the government property saying the land they received had government buildings in them. Finally, the mafia and civil servants created a fake Guthi saying that some land there belonged to Pashupati Tikincha Guthi.
Yesterday, CIB arrested four persons, including Bhatbhateni Supermarket owner Min Bahadur Gurung, the then Land Revenue Officer Dharma Prasad Gautam, Land Revenue Office employee Gopal Karki and then Bhaktapur Land Revenue Office chief and former commissioner of Election Commission Sudhir Shah in relation to the scam.
In a separate investigation, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had also filed cases against 175 people at the Special Court, including three former ministers.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 29, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
