• LALITA NIWAS LAND GRAB SCAM
KATHMANDU, JULY 11
Two more former government officers of Dillibazaar Land Revenue Office were arrested in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab scam.
Non-gazetted first class officer Yograj Poudel and non-gazetted second class officer Narayanraj Mishra were held.
Police sources said they were accused of misinterpreting the government's decision and recommending transfer of government-owned land of Lalita Niwas to private ownership.
The same recommendation, was approved by then office head Kaladhar Deuja, another key accused in the scam.
A few days ago, police had arrested incumbent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Krishna Bahadur Raut.
The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police had arrested Raut from the domestic terminal of Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, while he was on his way home to Biratnagar.
Raut is the first incumbent government official to be held after police started arresting the accused in the case again. A police source said Raut was arrested for his alleged involvement in making afake recommendation to the government that the land actually owned by the government had mohi (informal tenant) when he was section officer at the Ministry of Land Management.
The CIB also arrested former survey officer Dhruba Aryal and former head of Samarjung Company, Lokhari Ghimire, in the same case.
Police have now arrested more than dozen people, mostly former government employees, in the scam. Police have also issued arrest warrant against four former secretaries including Dip Basnyat, Chabiraj Panta, Dinesh Hari Adhikai and Narayan Gopal Malego. Secretary Sudhir Shah has already been arrested.
Police have concluded that middlemen, land mafia, government employees and political leaders worked together at four levels to transfer the Lalita Niwas land, the complex that houses the prime minister's residence, Nepal Rastra Bank's central office and houses of VIPs, to private ownership since 1990s. Police have also issued arrest warrant for over 300 people connected to the offence and are arresting them on the basis of solid evidence. A total of 143 ropani area of Lalita Niwas was transferred to private ownership.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 12, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
