• FAKE BHUTANESE REFUGEE SCAM
KATHMANDU, MAY 14
Former deputy prime minister, energy minister, and former secretary of the main opposition CPN- UML Top Bahadur Rayamajhi was tonight arrested from 'a hideout' in Budhanilkantha at around 9:00pm. An accused in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, he was absconding from the law.
On May 3, Kathmandu District Court had issued an arrest warrant against Rayamajhi, who is accused as accomplice in a racket in which hundreds of Nepalis were swindled of Rs 500,000 to Rs five million with the promise of sending and resettling them to third countries like the US in the guise of Bhutanese refugees.
"We were able to arrest the accused on the basis of a tip off," SSP Dan Bahadur Malla told THT. He further said Rayamajhi had arrived in Kathmandu yesterday and was residing at a relative's house at Pasikot in Budhanilkantha.
On May 3, Rayamajhi was in his home district in Arghakhachi attending a public programme.
On that same day, police approached him to make an arrest, following the court's order.
Rayamajhi had called the chief of Nepal Police IGP Basanta Bahadur Kunwar and re-quested the latter not to arrest him as he would voluntarily come to the police to record his statement.
CPN UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, while talking to the media the next day said Rayamajhi had told the police chief he would make himself available and that arrest was not necessary.
In this way Rayamajhi had escaped the clutches of police that day and was at large till tonight.
The court had also issued arrest warrant for his son Sandeep, who was arrested from Butwal on the same day that Top Bahadur had gone out of contact.
On May 10, CPN-UML central secretariat committee meeting suspended Rayamajhi from the position of party secretary to help investigation into the matter until final judgement in the case. The committee had also directed Rayamajhi, to surrender to the police and cooperate in the investigation process.
In July 2019, a taskforce was formed by the then KP Sharma Oli-led government to study and gather evidence about the 'real Bhutanese refugees' who had been left out of the Bhutanese refugee registration process.
The committee was formed with the purpose of repatriating them to third countries, mainly the US.
What followed was the orchestration of a racket on a grand scale. Misusing the committee, middle men lured at least 875 Nepali citizens with the promise they would be provided the status of Bhutanese refugees enabling them to settle in foreign countries like the US.
The case came to light after people who had paid up to the tune of Rs five million realised they had been duped and their dream of resettlement in other countries had shattered.
At least 100 people filed complaints with the police. There were 20 legal FIRs filed against the swindlers.
Acting upon the FIR, police at first arrested Sanu Bhandari, Tek Gurung and Keshav Dulal on March 26 as key perpetrators of the racket.
The arrested then revealed the names of top leaders in the case including former home minister Bal Krishna Khand.
Police retrieved a note book from the racketeers in which Rayamajhi's name and the money paid to him was mentioned.
Similarly, police also retrieved a cheque written to Rayamajhi by the racketeers.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 15, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
