Continued trial preparation after deposition with witnesses
Kathmandu District Court has ordered the witness to testify in the crime case of making Nepalese citizens fake Bhutanese refugees and sending them to America.
District Judge Kapilmani Gautam's bench issued an order on Tuesday to examine the witnesses in the case. The court is preparing to take the case to a continuous trial after the witness has been briefed.
In the case of fake Bhutanese refugees, District Public Prosecutor's Office Kathmandu filed a case on 10 May 2080 against 30 people for fraud, racketeering, organized crime and crime against the state. After two years, the court is going to speed up its hearing. Since the detention order was issued in this case, 32 times the fine has been imposed since last 1 Baisakhi alone. Before that, the payee was fixed 6 times in 2081 and 4 times in 2080. According to Ramhari Sharma Kafle, head of the District Public Prosecutor's Office, Kathmandu, another payee has also been set for the coming week.
Former deputy prime minister and UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamazhi, former home minister and Congress leader Balkrishna Khan, former home secretary Teknarayan Pandey, member of the Constituent Assembly and Congress leader Angtawa Sherpa, former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa's security adviser Indrajit Rai, and a case was filed against high-ranking officials and middlemen two years ago. Based on the complaint of Gajendra Budhathoki, a case was initiated against 30 people on 10th May 2080. According to the complaint given by Dawafuri Sherpa on 9 Baisakh 2081, a supplementary case was filed against 5 people including Sujata Koirala's private secretary Keshav Dulal when he was the foreign minister. Bechan Jha, a suspect in the refugee case, was arrested and brought from India and another case was taken on 29 July 2081. The court proceeded with the hearing by keeping both the last two cases together with the main case.
Judge Prem Prasad Neupane's bench on 1 June 2080 ruled against Rayamazhi, Khan, former secretary Pandey, Rai as well as Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rizal, mediators Keshav Prasad Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Sandeep Rayamazhi, Narendra KC, Govind Kumar Chaudhary, Ram Sharan KC, Angtawa Sherpa, Shamsher Mian and Haribhakt Maharjan. It was ordered to be sent to prison for preliminary investigation. Tank Gurung was ordered to be released on bail of Rs 10 lakh and Lakshmi Maharjan on bail of Rs 5 lakh. The other 12 defendants were absconding when the case was filed.
The defendants who were remanded in prison went to the Patan High Court in July 2080 against the order of the district court. The High Court heard the case on November 15 and ordered Haribhakta Maharjan, Narendra KC, Sandeep Rayamazhi, Teknath Rizal and Ram Sharan KC to be released on bail and Tank Gurung, Lakshmi Maharjan, Ashish Budhathoki and Keshav Tuladhar on a normal date. The High Court set a bail of Rs 30 lakh for Rayamazhi, Rs 15/15 lakh for Rizal, Maharjan and Ramsharan, and Rs 10/10 lakh for Narendra and Shamsher.
Judge Janak Pandey and Prakash Kharel disagreed on whether to keep Khan on bail or to release him on bail, and another hearing was scheduled to take a decision. On 28 November 2080, the bench of Judge Krishnaram Koirala ordered the release of Khan on a bond of 30 lakhs. Then he was released after posting bail. The government did not appeal to the Supreme Court against the higher order to release the mine on bail. He was also released after paying a bond of 1.5 million in the Asset Laundering Investigation Department. After that he was submitted to the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, and he was given papers and released on bail.
The defendant, who was ordered to be kept in custody by the Supreme Court, went to the Supreme Court. On 13 Baisakh 2081, the bench of Supreme Court Justices Kumar Regmi and Tek Prasad Dhungana upheld the order of the High Court to keep Angtawa Sherpa and Gobind Chaudhary on bail and Shamsher Mian on ordinary dates and to keep Rayamazhi, Pandey, Bhandari, Dulal, Sandesh, Indrajit and Sagar in custody. With the order of the Supreme Court, they are under remand in the Central Jail. Prateek Thapa, the son of former minister Thapa, who was arrested after filing a case in the district court, and Jha, who was later made a defendant in the supplementary case, are also in jail.
After the poll was revealed that a fake refugee list was made by deciding on the level of the Home Minister and the Home Secretary to match the 'setting' with the middleman, the police arrested some people including Keshav Dulal on 12 Chait 2079 and proceeded with the investigation. The case of fake refugees was revealed by Kantipur in May 2079.
