The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the police interrogated Congress Vice President and former minister Dhanraj Gurung for 4 and a half hours on Tuesday.

The CIB has spent hours interrogating former Minister Gurung regarding the loan he took from the cooperative and the 'suspicious transaction' he had with Meen Bahadur Gurung, a businessman who was found to be corrupt. 

Dhanraj Gurung was interrogated during the investigation of Miteri Cooperative Fraud, as the investigation is ongoing, it has not been decided who is involved and what role in it, CIB Chief AIG Deepak Thapa told Kantipur. Former Minister Gurung, who is also an MP of the ruling Congress, had previously received a statement from the CIB in the last week of October. 

During the investigation of co-operative fraud, it was revealed that there was a 'suspicious financial transaction' between leader Gurung and Meen Bahadur Gurung, the owner of Bhatbhateni supermarket, who was found guilty by a special court on corruption charges in 2081. After that, the CIB has continued to investigate both suspicious transactions and cooperative fraud on leader Gurung. 

Gurung, who became the law minister from the Congress on 21 Baisakh 2080 in the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, remained a minister for about a year. While Gurung was the law minister, businessman Meen Bahadur Gurung was under investigation by the CIB on charges of misappropriation of the government land of Lalita Niwas and organized crime.

While Gurung was a minister, the CIB submitted an investigation report with opinion to the District Public Prosecutor's Office Kathmandu in the first week of August 2080 to prosecute the owner of Bhatbhateni, Gurung, on charges of racketeering and organized crime.

In coordination with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the police filed a case against organized crime and kirte by removing the "unnatural" section of organized crime from the district court and ending the investigation on kirte.

Businessman Meen Bahadur Kirte, who was arrested during the investigation, was released on bail after the court ordered the case to be filed. At that time, an official involved in the investigation says that the main reason for not filing organized crime charges against those involved in the Lalita Niwas case was the maneuvering of the 'Shaktikendra'. He said that the defendants, including Gurung, the owner of Bhatbhateni, took advantage of that trick and some of them were released after paying bail and some of them appeared.

Gurung, who was the law minister at that time, has now become the main question as to what was the sign of the 'suspicious amount' taken by Gurung, one of the defendants, the owner of a Bhatbhateni. In his interrogation statement with the police, the leader Gurung has claimed that he took a loan from the businessman Gurung to pay the amount of the cooperative and that there is no other wrongdoing in it.

Jyoti Gurung, the wife of Neta Gurung, was the general manager of Miteri Sahakari until a few years ago. While she was the general manager, she ran away after misappropriating the cooperative's savings. After Jyoti and another accused Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari absconded after misappropriating the money, both of them were included in the "red notice" by the police through "Interpol" and put them on the list of fugitives. Only after they absconded did the savings fraud case of the cooperative come to light. 

It was claimed that the Gurung couple had been 'separated' on paper during the investigation which started after the continuous media attention and the victim's complaint about the co-operative fraud case. But leader Gurung has also been accused of misappropriating the funds of the cooperative on the date when there was no 'divorce' and then divorcing in 'Milibhagat'. 

The then wife Jyoti's misappropriation of funds and the fact that her then husband Neta Gurung paid the loan taken from the cooperative even after the divorce has been further confirmed, and there is pressure on her to conduct a thorough investigation.

Leader Gurung paid off the loan taken from the cooperative by selling his house and later took about 1 crore rupees from the businessman Gurung to pay off the loan, CIB has deepened the investigation. The police said that the details related to Gurung's cooperative and other financial transactions are under investigation. CIB chief Thapa said that the people involved in this could not be decided as the investigation is ongoing.

Neta Garung claims to have paid 91 lakh 26 thousand 14 rupees to the cooperative in one go in 2081 Baisakh. According to CIB chief Thapa, the check taken by Dhanraj Gurung from businessman Gurung has been saved in the account of Miteri Sahakari. 

'It seems that Dhanraj took various amounts of checks taken from Meen Bahadur on different dates and deposited them in Miteri Sahakari, as some other accused are absconding in the misappropriation of savings of Miteri Sahakari, they are also being searched for,' Thapa said, 'We called Dhanraj Gurung for investigation. The second inquiry is a statement, some facts/evidence are still under investigation, it takes more time to complete the investigation, those involved in it are subject to action. We will submit the report to the public prosecutor's office.

Leader Gurung took 82 lakh 27 thousand rupees from Meen Bahadur through 6 checks after leaving the post of law minister. A public question is being raised about the fact that leader Gurung took money from a person convicted of corruption and the owner of an organization convicted of tax evasion. The amount mentioned in the check taken from the businessman Gurung was deposited in Miteri Cooperative on behalf of Dhanraj on 17 Baisakh and 8 May 2081. 

Dhanraj, who became the Law Minister on 21st Baisakh 2080, was a minister till 21st February 2080. At that time, a Kirtema case had been registered against Meen Bahadur in the district court in the case of Lalita Niwas. Dismissing the police opinion that a case should be registered even in organized crime, the public prosecutor's office prosecuted the case only in Kirte. Later, Meen Bahadur was also found guilty by the Supreme Court in Bhatbhateni Karchli, where he is the director. 

After the political equation changed, Dahal broke the cooperation with the Congress and shared power with the UML on February 21, 2080. Gurung was left as a minister. Two months after that, on 17 Baisakh 2081, Gurung suspiciously took 82 lakh 27 thousand rupees from Meen Bahadur.

After the news of Miteri co-operative fraud came out, Gurung had told Kantipur on August 29 that he had sold the house and paid off the co-operative's debt. However, later, after the transaction with Meen Bahadur came out, he claimed that he had taken a loan to pay the amount of the cooperative. Whether the amount is a genuine loan or a 'suspicious transaction' has become a major question. Leader Gurung has been claiming that he took a loan from Meen Bahadur at 10 percent interest.

Meen Bahadur, who was arrested on June 12, 2080 on the charge of taking the land of Lalita Niwas and organized crime, was released on bail on August 24. A case filed against him on August 10, 2080 against 311 people in the case of land acquisition of Lalita Niwas is pending in the Kathmandu District Court. Gurung was convicted on February 3, 2080 in a case filed by the authority at Lalita's residence.

A month before that, in January, Meen Bahadur was found guilty by the Supreme Court in Bhatbhateni supermarket Karchli. From organizations and individuals convicted of tax evasion and corruption, there is a demand for a thorough investigation on the suspicious dealings of people in public positions. 

Initially, leader Dhanraj Gurung, his wife Jyoti Gurung, Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari, Sujan Shakya, Hitman Thapa, Prakash Yadav, Dinesh Bhandari, Thar and Watan Nakhuleka Kripesh, Arjan, Tekendra and Saroj were involved in the co-operative fraud. A complaint was filed. Kumbharaj Gurung, chairman of Bodhartha Sahakari, gave it to CIB. 

For the second time, Bagmati Province Ministry of Cooperatives filed a complaint in CIB after removing the names of Dhanraj Gurung and 5 others mentioned in the initial complaint and making only Jyoti Gurung, Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari, Sujan Shakya, Hitman Thapa and Prakash Yadav as defendants. The CIB has said that investigations are being carried out on those included in both the first and last complaint and during the investigation, a 'red notice' has been issued against Jyoti Gurung and Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari.

According to police sources, Congress leader Dhanraj's then wife Jyoti is suspected to have fled to America. Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari is believed to have reached Colombo in Sri Lanka via Cambodia from Thailand. According to CIB chief Thapa, a red notice has been issued against them and various legal procedures have been initiated to bring them under the ambit of action.

Miteri is a co-operative founded on the initiative of retired Lahures from the British and Indian Army. Congress leader Gurung's wife Jyoti entered it on May 12, 2057 from an assistant level employee. After 2 months, she became an accountant on July 25, a senior accountant on May 4, 2070 and became a general manager on May 4, 2075.