A corruption case has been filed in a special court against Tirtharaj Bhattarai, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, who is involved in the visit visa smuggling case.

A case was filed in a special court on Thursday against Bhattarai, who has been facing the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for six months, and six others, including Yagya Aryal, a branch officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Bhattarai was working at the immigration desk of Tribhuvan International Airport and branch officer Aryal at the airport when he was taken into custody by the CIAA.

On the charge of an organized gang with the connivance of employees extorting money from Nepali passengers traveling on visit visas, the CIAA raided the airport and seized documents on 7 Jestha 2082, and Joint Secretary Bhattarai was arrested from there.

After that, the CIAA took into custody and interrogated some travel agency operators and middlemen in Kathmandu on the same day. On the same day that Bhattarai was arrested, the CIAA took into custody Khagendra Subedi of Bhaktapur, Kabita Poudel, an employee of CIT College, and Balkrishna Khadka, the operator of Greenland Holidays Travel in Hattisar.

The CIAA has filed a case in the special court on Sunday after the investigation was completed by releasing all those arrested on a date so that they would appear when called. There was a demand for an impartial investigation saying that political figures were also involved in this case. However, the CIAA has filed a case making only Joint Secretary Bhattarai and some middlemen as defendants.

In this case, there was a demand for an investigation against the then Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak. However, the CIAA official informed that only those who were found to be guilty were filed as defendants.

In this case, the then Home Minister Lekhak, his secretariat staff and other home officials were also drawn into the circle of suspicion. During that time, the CIAA had also taken statements from the then Home Minister Lekhak's personal secretary Janak Bhatta and the deputy secretary Badri Tiwari working in his secretariat. However, the CIAA did not file a case saying that there was no basis to confirm the involvement of both of them in this case.

Initially, the Maoists, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and RPP, including the opposition parties, had blocked the House, demanding an investigation into the smuggling case against Minister Lekhak. Later, the Maoists backed down from their stand on blocking the House. However, the RSS and RPP continued to block the House, demanding the resignation of the then Home Minister Lekhak and an impartial investigation and the formation of a high-level committee for that. Meanwhile, the CIAA was continuing the investigation. In the meantime, the then KP Sharma Oli-led Council of Ministers had formed a task force on 12 Ashad under the leadership of former Chief Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi to identify problems and make suggestions for reforming the immigration administration instead of an investigation committee.

Home Minister Lekhak had refuted the questions raised against him by saying that if the charges were proven, he would not only resign but also leave politics. He had also asked, "Will the minister resign if the employees are investigated?" He had said that false propaganda was being spread against him in a planned and conspiratorial manner.

He had denied the allegations against him, saying, "It is not just the issue of visit visas, if anyone proves that I have committed even a single financial irregularity in my public and political life, if it is proven, I will resign not from my post but from politics." Meanwhile, the Bairagi-led task force formed by the then government has identified the problems seen in immigration and submitted a report to the government a few months ago.

Based on the same report, the government had recently started some reform efforts to control visit visa smuggling and make it easier for travelers traveling abroad. Under the same, on 13 Kartik 2082, based on the Home Minister's decision, the Immigration Department had amended the previously arbitrary standards and issued a simple provision that a valid passport with a validity of 6 months, a visa of the relevant country for the destination country, an air ticket to the destination country, and a 'self-declaration' to bear all the risks of the trip would be sufficient for a visit visa.

Similarly, the department had issued an internal circular stating that if the immigration desk officer at the airport is found to have unnecessarily harassed and tormented the passenger despite having the prescribed documents, the immigration officer will also be brought under the ambit of action. Similarly, if the airline returns the passenger from the airport despite having the visit visa documents, a written reason for the return has been provided to the passenger and the department in writing.

When the government issued arbitrary provisions under the guise of standards, passengers going to various countries in Europe, Asia and Africa on visit visas were forced to pay huge amounts to organized gangs, police, immigration officials, travel agencies, and airline settings.

Investigations by the authority and the police also found that this gang was extorting up to 300,000 rupees from each person going to Europe and up to 50,000 rupees from each person going to various countries in Asia under the guise of this gang. After the rise in smuggling in the name of visit visas, the police had arrested a gang including immigration employees in a special operation at the airport immigration two years ago and investigated them for organized crime, fraud and other offenses.

During that time, the police had seized the passports of 66 people who were being sent on visit visas from a travel agency. At that time, a case was filed in the Kathmandu District Court against immigration officers Narbir Khadka, Tara Bahadur Kunwar, Kushal Baral, Shailendra Dhakal, Bimal Poudel, Bishnu Aryal, Bikash Dangol, Pitambar Rimal and Sujan Fago. After the police arrested immigration officer Khadka, the smuggling network was further exposed.

It was also found that employees were deployed at the airport immigration, the employees were sent on visit visas in collusion with middlemen and travel agency people within the gang's network, and 'code language' was used among the gangs in the process.

Making the visit visa stricter, the then Home Minister Balkrishna Khand issued a 17-point standard in Falgun 2078 BS, including provisions such as the following: to go on a visit visa, one must have an annual taxable income of Rs 500,000, half of that amount should be in the bank, one must have visited the Gulf twice and once in other countries, have passed grade 12, be able to speak English, if someone from abroad is sponsoring or invited by a relative, a document proving the relationship must be provided, and if not, the details of the sponsor must be mentioned.

Due to the strict provisions, there was a demand for an amendment to it after the number of people going on visit visas in the 'setting' of the gang increased. The gang's As the business grew, a standoff broke out between the police and the employees after the police launched a special 'operation' focused on immigration in Bhadra 2080.

After that, employees including the then head of immigration, Gogan Hamal, submitted a memorandum to the Home Ministry demanding action against the police and stopping unnecessary interrogations of them. In particular, Hamal submitted a memorandum to the Home Ministry to defend himself after the involvement of the employees involved in the 'setting' of the gang was revealed.