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The Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission has released 5 people, including the joint secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Tirtharaj Bhattarai, who were accused of extorting money from people sent on visit visas from the Tribhuvan International Airport.
Khagendra Subedi of Bhaktapur, Kavita Paudel working at CIT College and Balakrishna Khadka, owner of travel agency Greenline Holidays in Hattisar, along with Bhattarai, who were arrested on Wednesday and kept in custody, have been scheduled to appear next week. "The devices recovered from them have been sent to the forensic laboratory and the report will take time, so they have been left on the date until then," the authority source said.
They were called by the authority for investigation on Thursday.
Joint Secretary Bhattarai, who was brought to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday evening as the Chief Immigration Officer of Tribhuvan International Airport, was detained by the Commission for questioning on Wednesday and released in the evening on the condition that he appear on Thursday. Bhattarai was detained at the Tangal office of the authority and released on the condition that he appear on Thursday for questioning.
The authority is investigating the matter after receiving a complaint on the charges of arranging with human traffickers to illegally send people from Tribhuvan Airport to Dubai and other countries on visit visas, and charging Rs 20,000 to 40,000 per person. During the investigation, the joint secretary Bhattarai and other employees of the airport were dragged into the scope of the investigation. During the investigation, the authority took him into custody after finding facts that there was collusion in the setting of visit visas even by employees.
Authority has raided the airport immigration on Wednesday and seized electronic equipment (devices) and other documents as well. During that time, the authority has seized devices and other documents from a travel agency from Kathmandu and from the houses of two other people in Bhaktapur.
Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday night pulled Chief Immigration Officer Bhattarai and transferred Panchthar Chief District Officer Bishnuprasad Koirala in his place.
