RANJHA, BANKE: Police have arrested eight government employees on the charge of assisting the land mafia in transferring the public land to an individual's ownership.

The eight employees of the land reform and the land revenue offices in Banke and Bardiya were arrested on Monday night for forging the documents related to government land, chief of Banke District Police Office, Superintendent of Police Arun Poudel, said.

Non-gazetted first-class officers Rudra Devkota, Tanka Sharma and Ram Bahadur Khadka and computer operators Yagyashwor Oli and Prem Chand of the Land Revenue Office, Banke and non-gazetted first class officer Krishna Lal Sharma and non-gazetted second class officer Bhumi Raj Pokhrel of the Land Reform and Land Revenue Office, Bardiya were arrested.

Similarly, police have arrested Pushpa Shrestha, an officer who has been transferred to the District Post Office Banke from the Land Revenue Office, on the same charge and started an investigation.

SP Poudel said that a preliminary investigation by the police showed that the arrestees transferred the government land in an individual's name. Police said the arrested people have also been suspected of being involved in other crimes.