KATHMANDU: The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has filed a vacate petition against 17 people who have obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court in the Lalita Niwas land scam.
According to SSP Dinesh Acharya, the bureau filed a vacate petition against the SC order, issued on Monday, not to arrest 17 accused.
The police arrested 7 people in the Lalita Niwas land encroachment scam on June 27.
Three of the seven people were released by the Bureau that evening after they were found to have received a stay order from the Supreme Court.
Kaladhar Deuja, the then-chief of the Land Revenue Office Dillibazar, and employees Surendraman Kapali and Hupendramani KC were also arrested and released the same evening.
In this way, after finding that 17 people have taken stay orders, the Bureau has filed a vacancy petition for review.
Supreme Court Judge Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada issued the interim order on August 4, 2022.
Bhatbhateni Supermarket proprieter Meen Bahadur Gurung, former Election Commissioner Sudhir Kumar Shah, and Dharma Prasad Gautam, who were arrested in the same case, have also filed a writ against detention in the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, their writ came before the bench of Justices Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Hariprasad Phuyal.
Last Wednesday, they filed a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court, saying that they were illegally arrested in an incident where the statute of limitations had passed.
So far, the Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested 9 people in this case.
Along with Gurung, Shah, and Gautam, Gopal Karki, a former employee of the Land Revenue Office, Shivaji Bhattarai, the then ward secretary of Kathmandu Metropolitan Ward No. 5, Baburaja Maharjan and Ghaman Kumar Karki are arrested.
Similarly, the then-head of Samarjung Company Ramesh Kumar Pokharel, and fake land user Devnarayan Maharjan were arrested on Monday.
Even though the Bureau has conducted a long investigation, it has not been able to register the case in court. After a long investigation, the public prosecutor’s office submitted an investigation report to Kathmandu in December 2021. But the Public Prosecutor’s Office sent back the report on January 6, 2022, to conduct further investigation.
CIB has concluded that 143 ropani land of Lalita Niwas has been grabbed.
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