KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 11
At least eight frauds in the disguise of government authorities of Inland Revenue Department have been arrested from Bus Park area in Kathmandu.
They used to swindle hoteliers and businesses in the area.
The Kathmandu District Police Range nabbed them red-handed in the attire of the official uniform of government employees - dark blue blazers, pants and white shirt - along with fake identity cards. The fraudsters were charging money from hoteliers in the area saying that they had breached government rules.
The arrested include Bin Bahadur BK, 29, of Nawalparasi, currently residing in Balaju; Srijana Bhattarai, 22, of Panchthar, currently residing in Lalitpur; Sagar Jung Luhar, 19, of Achham, currently residing in Koteswor; Pramisha Tamang, 23, of Sindhupalchowk, currently residing in Samakhusi; Dudhkala BK, 23, of Achham, currently residing in Lalitpur; Aanjana Tamang, 21, of Nuwakot, currently residing in Manmaiju; Rajeev Bista, 24, of Kanchanpur, currently residing in Koteshwor and Devid Dhami, 25, of the same place.
These fraudsters used to carry original looking rubber stamp, bill and letter head of the IRD. As they walked from hotel to hotel and business to business in the busy Bus Park area, they would give the im-pression of government authorities.
The dress and official identity card along with bills and other documents of the office gave the impression they were real officers.
They would confidently enter businesses, especially hotels in the area and start inquiring about the income and legal tax payment.
Kathmandu Police, in a press meet, said the frauds often targeted businesses that had not paid due tax to the government and ask them to pay fine while handing out fake bills to the businesses.
Some of them were able to get bribe money from the businesses on the pretext of helping them evade the tax amount.
Police said they were able to confiscate around Rs 500,000 the fraudsters had gained from hotels, restaurants, shops and even roadside vendors in the area. It is not sure how much money they had collected from the businesses so far. Police said the fraudsters had long been involved in this activity. The activities had gone unnoticed until one person who was suspicious of the bill provided by the fraudsters called the police to report about such activities. He was aware that the IRD would ask businesses to deposit the money in the concerned bank account and would not charge money on the spot like the fraudsters.
Police acted on the information and arrested them red-handed during investigation.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 12, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
