KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) leader Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar has been suspended as House of Representatives (HoR) member as he was charged in a corruption case on Wednesday.

Gachchhadar, who is the deputy parliamentary party leader of the main opposition NC, was charged of facilitating the Lalita Niwas land scam.

He has been suspended as per the Clause 17 of the CIAA Act which states that any person in public position will be suspended automatically if a corruption case is filed against him/her until the case is decided.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Wednesday filed a corruption case at the Special Court against Gachchhadar when he was the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Planning.

Gachchhadar is one among the 174 others who have been charged with corruption on the Baluwatar Lalita Niwas land scam.

A government’s investigation committee under former secretary Sharada Prasad Trital had earlier submitted the report to the government in December 2018 stating that the land transferred to the names of the individuals in Baluwatar actually belonged to the government.