A corruption case has been filed against 16 people, including member secretary of Pashupati Area Development Fund Milan Kumar Thapa and the then acting member secretary Rajukumar Khatri, on charges of corruption in the purchase of two equipments for the electric crematorium.

The Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission has filed a case in the special court on Sunday against 14 individuals and 2 companies, including member secretary Thapa, the then and current officials of the fund, employees, contractors and vice professors of Pulchok Engineering Institute involved in the evaluation of the equipment purchase, on the charge of corruption in the purchase of equipment for the crematorium in Pashupati. According to Rajendra Kumar Paudel, the spokesperson of the Authority, a demand has been made against the defendants to pay Rs 10 crore 33 lakh 91 thousand 30 and fine, imprisonment and recovery of damages.

The authority appointed member secretary Thapa, then acting member secretary Khatri, then executive director Ghanshyam Khatiwada, current deputy director Revathiraman Adhikari, then acting deputy director Sitaram Risel, three engineers of the fund Pashupati Thakur, Debid Upreti and Ramesh Puri, accounting officer Chandra Prasad Khanal, head of the electrical department of Institute of Engineering Studies Pulchok Campus Yuvraj Adhikari and the fund. Against Legal Advisor and Purchase Evaluation Committee Member Lain Bahadur Thapa, Janahi has demanded Rs 100 million 33 lakh 91 thousand 30 rupees and demanded imprisonment and fine accordingly. Manoj Puri and Yadunandan Bhattarai, the directors of

equipment supplier Map Entrepreneur Pvt. Ltd., have also been jointly charged with imprisonment and fine. Similarly, a fine and imprisonment are demanded against the supplier Apple Engineering Professional Consultancy and its managing director Suraj Chapagai. On 13 October 2080, the Authority had filed a case in a special court against member secretary Thapa, former member secretary Pradeep Dhakal and storekeeper Arun Kumar Shrestha in the Jyortiling of Pashupatinath gold scam. Member Secretary Thapa was suspended after the

case was filed. However, on 17 May 2081, Thapa returned to work as a member secretary after all three defendants were acquitted on 17 May 2081, saying that the authority's indictment was not enough. When he was the member secretary, the purchase agreement of the crematorium was signed. After he was suspended in the Jalhari case, Khatri, a member of the fund, was made acting member secretary. After that, according to the purchase agreement made during Thapa's time, Khatri paid the pessimistic payment to the company that was awarded the contract for the purchase of equipment for the crematorium. He has been made a defendant for having given to stop payment. The remaining officers and employees of the fund were in the procurement process from the beginning.

fund called for bids on 5 June 2080 for the purchase of crematorium equipment. The call for bids was planned by member secretary Thapa.

It is mentioned in the indictment filed in the special court by the authority that the procurement criteria were amended to give the contract to the companies that did not meet the qualifications in the process, the procurement was handed over to the highest bidder and they worked in collusion for this purpose. In this process, the authority said that the competition was limited in the evaluation of bids, previous experience and documents were not used.

"Contrary to the procurement provisions, Apple engineering orders were given from 3 companies under the direct purchase arrangement, asking for rates and purchasing consulting services. In collusion, fake quotations were prepared from consultants who had no experience in the related work, and using the same fake documents, higher cost estimates and technical specifications were prepared to suit only the company of their choice," the indictment filed by the authority said, It has been confirmed that the state's property has been damaged by accepting the incomplete and incorrect report submitted without even analyzing the data and accepting the payment from the consultant even before the bill was issued. According to the

authority, it has been revealed that the criteria of experience is more than necessary, limiting the competition, depriving the same opportunity to participate in the procurement process, and determining the qualification to be favorable only for certain companies. According to the authority, during the

investigation, it was found that the cost estimate for one machine was 3250,000 Nepali 152 million and the contract process was advanced without determining the location of installation of the machine. In this process, the authority mentioned in the indictment that it was also found that the employees of the fund and unrelated persons were taken to travel around India by making a purchase agreement.