Kathmandu, July 9:
Police on Sunday arrested three individuals, including a government secretary, in connection with the Lalita Niwas land scam.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Nepal Police arrested Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology Krishna Bahadur Raut, the then head of Samarjung Company Lok Hari Ghimire and survey official Dhrubha Prasad Aryal, for their alleged involvement in the case of transferring the government land of Lalita Niwas in the name of private individuals.
CIB Chief Additional Inspector General of Police Kiran Bajracharya confirmed to the Post that police arrested Raut from the domestic terminal of the Tribhuvan International Airport on Sunday evening as he was about to board a flight to Biratnagar.
A preliminary investigation by the bureau revealed that Ghimire, when he was the head of Samarjung Company, was also involved in the embezzlement because he did not claim the government land when it was supposed to be claimed.
Police have so far arrested nine individuals in connection with the case.
The CIB on June 27 arrested seven suspects in connection with the scam. However, three people–Kaladhar Deuja, Surendra Kapali and Hupendra Mani KC– were released later in the day owing to the stay order.
The remaining arrestees including former election commissioner Sudhir Shah, Bhatbhateni Supermarket owner Min Bahadur Gurung, and former employees of Land Revenue Office Dharma Prasad Gautam and Gopal Karki were remanded to seven days in police custody on June 28.
On July 2, the police bureau arrested Baburaja Maharjan, Ghaman Kumar Karki and Shivaji Bhattarai in connection with the land scam while two more accused—Ramesh Kumar Pokharel, the former head of Samarjung Company, and Dev Narayan Maharjan—were caught on July 3.
The Kathmandu District Court on July 4 extended the custody of all nine individuals arrested in connection with the scam by seven days while also allowing the police to investigate them for organised crime. The CIB was earlier probing them for document forgery only.
Lalita Niwas covers some 300 ropanis [around 15 hectares] of land and includes the prime minister’s residence, Nepal Rastra Bank central office and some other official residences.
– The Kathmandu Post
