Based on the police investigation, a case was filed against 22 people including 9 airport immigration officials on 10th January 2080 on charges of organized crime and racketeering, a year later on 14th November 2081, the bench of District Judge Ram Prasad Sharma convicted only the middlemen and travel agency operators.
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The business of extorting money from ordinary Nepalis going abroad on a visit visa by the immigration officials of Tribhuvan International Airport has been going on for a long time. One and a half years ago, there was a case against the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, who are now under investigation.
After being acquitted and found to be active in their old activities, the authority has started an investigation against them.
On January 10, 2080, District Public Prosecutor's Office Kathmandu filed a case against 22 people, including 9 airport immigration officials, on charges of organized crime and racketeering. Before the case was filed, eight immigration officials were absconding except Narveer Khadka. Even during the filing of the case, they were kept on the fugitive list, but later appeared in the court and were released on bail. A year later, on 14 November 2081, the bench of District Judge Ram Prasad Sharma acquitted nine officers of the organized gang before the police and convicted the middlemen and travel agency operators.
On 14 October 2080, Kaushila Magar and Lakshmi Rai, who were about to fly to Kuwait on a visit visa, were detained by the airport police and sent to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office.
During the investigation, it was revealed that fake documents such as labor permits and police reports were made in the 'setting' of the group with Geeta Shah and Arun Dahal, who were acting as middlemen. It was revealed that 50,000 rupees were taken from women and sent to countries including the Gulf on visit visas and that immigration staff were also involved in the 'setting'.
A month later, on 17 November, Shah and Dahal were arrested. The next day, Saroj Kumar Yadav, the owner of a travel agency, was arrested on December 18. On 26 December, immigration officer Narveer Khadka was arrested from a hotel in Sinamangal with 2 lakhs.
Travel agency owner/employee Padam Lama and Manoj Tamang were arrested on December 27, Vinod Karki on December 5. In this way, as one fact after another was revealed, 22 people including nine officers were dragged. Of these, officer Narveer Khadka was arrested during the investigation, while Tara Bahadur Kunwar, Kushal Baral, Shailendra Dhakal, Bimal Paudel, Vishnu Aryal, Vikas Dangol, Pitambar Rimal and Sujan Fago were absconding.
In that process, it was found that Shah, who was acting as a middleman, made a fake police report and work permit and gave it to Dahal, Dahal handed over those documents to Saroj Yadav of Travel and after Yadav gave the list to the immigration officer Khadka, it was found that the line of visit visa was opened from the immigration in the 'setting' accordingly.
Khadka, the immigration officer, revealed the mystery of how the 'setting' works in immigration and how the money is collected in the police statement. Khadka admitted to the police that he had colluded with Saroj Yadav and others since June 2080 to take 10,000 to 15,000 per person for men and 40,000 to 50,000 per person for women. The statement signed by Khadka along with the open facts and evidence were included in the indictment. During the
investigation, Khadka gave a statement that eight other officers were also working in the same 'setting'. Khadka also accepted the fact that at that time, nine officers including himself formed a 'Visit Visa Facilitation Committee' at the immigration desk and collected money. He revealed that for facilitating in this way, on an average day, an employee receives up to 50,000 rupees. He had given a statement that he took 2 lakh rupees from Manoj Tamang for facilitating the
. Yadav, the owner of the arrested travel agency, also admitted that a 'setting' was arranged to give the amount demanded by the immigration staff. In this way, the fact that the middleman was eating 4,000 commission per person after deducting everyone's share when sending people was also revealed at that time.
The case reached the court against 22 people, including eight who were burned by Khadka. However, later Khadka gave a denial statement in the court, the court acquitted the defendant employee based on that statement. He changed his statement and claimed that '200,000 was taken from the gang members'. Based on that, he was acquitted. Manoj Tamang, owner of
travel agency, has mentioned in the statement that he has paid 2 million rupees to Tara Kunwar, another immigration officer. It is mentioned in Tamang's statement that after Kunwar was transferred, Narveer took over that responsibility and sent 300 people on visit visas through him. Tamang, the owner of the travel agency, also revealed that Kunwar paid Rs 1 crore for sending 300 people.
One of them, Bimal Paudel, was transferred to the Secretariat of Home Minister Ramesh Akhtar after being acquitted by the Kathmandu court. After the Abuse of Authority investigation commission arrested airport immigration chief Tirtharaj Bhattarai and three people working in the gang's 'setting', the investigation has also started on the employees who were previously acquitted by the court. The Authority has started an investigation into the allegations of the latest smuggling 'setting' with the connivance of Paudel and the accused employees, who have been prosecuted in the past and are now seen in a 'suspicious role'.
