KATHMANDU: The Metropolitan Police Range (MPR), Hanumandhoka today granted a parole release to Sudhir Babu Khatri, president and CEO, DCBL Bank, after detaining him for interrogation on charge of financial embezzlement.

SP Ganesh KC, in-charge, MPR informed that he was released after a brief interrogation. He was once a CEO of the Nepal Development Bank, which has been under liquidation process.

He was served with an arrest warrant and subsequently detained to seek clarification on why the bank faced liquidation.

The Ministry of Finance had written a letter to the Nepal Police Headquarters to arrest 40 people including the bank's promoters and Board members, acting at the behest of Nepal Rastra Bank.

According to the central bank, he abused tens of millions of rupees of depositors against the directives of the bank.

Uttam Bahadur Pun, chairman, managing director and patron of the troubled bank, tops the list of persons charged with financial crime, though he has been at large. NDB is the first bank in Nepal's banking history to go under liquidation due to its management's financial irregularity.

The police headquarters has instructed its subordinates to nab them and hand over to the nearest police post. "The police have stepped up the search operation. It will be too early to say where and when they will be arrested," an official said, adding that they could be arrested anytime.