Seven, including former EC commissioner, Bhatbhateni super market owner arrested
KATHMANDU, JUNE 27
The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police today arrested seven persons in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab scam in which hundreds of land mafia, political leaders and government employees illegally transferred government-owned land in the heart of Kathmandu to private ownership.
Of those arrested today are former Commissioner of the Election Commission Sudhir Kumar Shah and owner of Bhatbhateni Super Market Min Bahadur Gurung.
Both were arrested from Kathmandu. Similarly, the other arrestees include, head of Dilli Bazaar Land Revenue Office Kaladhar Deuja, and subordinate employees of the same office Surendraman Kapali, Dharma Prasad Gautam, Hupendra Mani KC and Gopal Karki.
Today's arrests show the police have reopened investigation into irregularities surrounding Lalita Niwas - the complex that houses the prime minister's residence, Nepal Rastra Bank's central office, and houses of VIPs - scam.
The case had remained in the freezer for the past two years as only a couple of people including Deep Basnyat, former chief commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority and Krishna Prasad Poudel, former staff of Dilli Bazaar Land Revenue Office were sent to judicial custody.
The CIAA had filed cases against 175 people at the Special Court, including three former ministers, of whom almost all were released on bail.
Gurung, who was arrested today, is one of the 175 who was already indicted in the case and released on a bail amount of Rs 20 million. He is accused of buying government owned land and transferring it in his name.
Similarly, former commissioner of the Election Commission Shah who was also arrested today had served as joint secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs. After retirement, the government had appointed him commissioner at the Election Commission. His alleged involvement in the scam occurred when he was working as a section officer at the Land Revenue Office in Bhaktapur. Police have accused him of playing the role of middleman in transferring government land to private ownership. He had received over one ropani 11 aana land (around 9,250 square feet) as bribe. He apparently transferred the ownership of the land to his wife Urmila.
In a separate investigation, the CIB has accused more than 400 people, including former bureaucrats-turned-ministers, employees of the then Dilli Bazaar-based Land Revenue Office and land mafias, all of whom played their role in transferring 143 ropani land belonging to Lalita Niwas.
It may be recalled that the Panchayat era government had acquired a total of 299 ropani land belonging to Nepali Congress leader Subarna Shumsher Rana in 1964 by giving him and his family members due compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act-1961.
However, the land mafia, corrupt bureaucrats and the government decision taken by former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai supported the illegal transfer of 143 ropani land to private ownership.
In a later development today, police released three of the arrestees Deuja, KC and Kapali, after holding them in custody for a few hours.
They produced a Supreme Court order that asked authorities not to arrest them for the scam. The SC had given this order last year.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 28, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
