Kathmandu, July 30

Nepali Congress lawmaker Devendra Raj Kandel in the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee today requested the government to investigate the death of Yukta Prasad Shrestha. Shrestha was the NC Parbat district secretary and former staff of Land Revenue Office Dilli Bazaar. Shrestha was also one of the accused in Lalita Niwas land scam.

Kandel said even though Shrestha’s death appeared a suicide, a closer look into the incident did not point out to suicide. “So, I have asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to come up with detail of the incident following an investigation,” he added. Kandel said Shrestha fell from an eight-storey building at Machhapokhari in Kathmandu. “His body did not suffer damage even after falling from the tall building. This has created suspicion over his death,” he said. Kandel also said Shrestha was a non-gazetted second class officer (Kharidar) and that he was linked with the Baluwatar Lalita Niwas land scam. “A junior officer follows direction of his seniors. So, it is possible that he was killed by someone for the fear that he might reveal the truth of the Lalita Niwas land scam,” he said.

NC leader Dilendra Prasad Badu also requested the government to investigate the death of Basanta Bahadur Singh whose body was found hanging in a jungle of Kanchanpur. NC Lawmaker Dila Sangroula asked Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa when the government would arrest the culprit(s) of Nirlama Panta, who was raped and murdered in Kanchanpur.