"Information has been received that some officers and employees have worked directly with manpower or consultancy, and an information mechanism has been mobilized behind this. If caught, there is no way to protect them."

 'We are all under very close surveillance by the Red House/CIAA (Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority) and other agencies, so whenever there is danger, let's avoid it, friends.'

These are the notes mentioned in the diary of Tirtharaj Bhattarai, the then Chief Joint Secretary of the Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport. The CIAA has recently filed a corruption case against Bhattarai in a special court. According to the investigation officers of the commission, since Bhattarai went to the airport as the Chief of Immigration on 23 Asoj 2081, the collection of visit visa holders had been carried out in collusion with employees.

Officers say that Joint Secretary Bhattarai prepared a note to instruct employees, saying that the risk had increased when all the employees were running the 'setting' together and some even started 'personal transactions'. It has been found that he used to note down what he had to say in the staff meeting in his personal diary and then give instructions. The same diary in which Bhattarai wrote daily details has become the main evidence in the corruption case filed against him.

The CIAA had sent two mobile phones seized from Bhattarai to the digital forensic lab for testing. The investigation officers had recovered one of Bhattarai's diary intact. Two pages of the diary were 'recovered' from forensic examination. 'It has been found that the diary contains the names of people going on visit visas, the names of the people recommended for sending them abroad, the flight date and time, and also keeps a symbolic account of the bribe amount,' says an investigation officer. 'Joint Secretary Bhattarai has admitted that he wrote the diary himself.' The technical examination also found the letters.

The page dated 27 Poush 2081 contains the names of passengers, their flight times and destination countries noted by Balkrishna Khadka, the operator of Greenline Holidays Travels. The names of 16 people are mentioned on one page. The account of the bribe amount is also there. On the pages of the diary, 11 people were written as 'L' and 5 people as 'S'. 'In code language, he used to write women as 'L' and men as 'S', and accordingly, it seems that 40,000 rupees were taken from women and 20,000 rupees from men,' said an officer involved in the investigation.

Bhattarai has admitted in his statement to the investigating officers that he had written down the names himself. When the details were retrieved from the Immigration Department, it was found that the person had flown abroad on a visit visa.

A list of people going abroad and their rates were calculated on each page of that diary. Bhattarai also wrote 'Meeting with clients (outside - manpower, consultancy or middlemen)' on 23 Pus 2081. The investigation is more suspicious that he met with a middleman on that day. On 8 Chaitra 2081, under the heading of instructions to the Nasus, he has made a note saying ‘not to do much outdoor sitting’.

Bhattarai has also mentioned details of doing yoga and morning walk in the morning. Details of leaving the office at 9:15 am are also in the diary. In the ‘daily’ written on 31 Chaitra 2081, he has also noted the names of 5 people received from Balkrishna Khadka.

Bhattarai’s diary also mentions details after 28 Pus 2081, written by Deepak Bhandari, the owner of Family Holidays Travels and Tours Pvt. Ltd. The list includes the names of 3 people going to Costa Rica, 2 going to Dubai, and 2 going to Qatar. Similarly, the names of those going to countries including Norway, Korea are also written. According to the names noted by Khadka of Greenline Travels, it seems that passengers were flown abroad in all three shifts, morning, afternoon, and evening. Bhattarai has written the full details of it in his diary and mentioned ‘clear to bank’.

The commission also recovered the recommendation list of the middleman that Bhattarai had written via WhatsApp. In the same diary, the then Director General of the Immigration Department, Govinda Prasad Rijal, is also mentioned and his name is written. The date is 7 January 2025 (23 Poush 2081) and ‘Air Arabia’ is written below it. The investigation conducted by the commission has shown that the people named in the diary have gone abroad on visit visas.

He asked the middleman for a gift to give to his wife

It has been found that Joint Secretary Bhattarai had repeatedly talked to the middleman on his mobile phone. According to the call detail records collected by the commission, he had spoken to Balkrishna Khadka of Greenline Holidays 118 times, Bhandari of Family Holidays Travels and Tours 253 times, Kavita Poudel 858 times and Khem Prasad Subedi 53 times. They used to give Bhattarai a list of people to send abroad on visit visas not only on WhatsApp but also through SMS.

Bhattarai had spoken to Deepak Bhandari, the owner of Family Holidays Travels, about gift transactions along with SMS. On February 14 (February 2, 2081), at 5:16 pm, Bhandari sent him a message saying, "Brother, I am in a small meeting, I called you, brother." He had sent the SMS when Bhattarai was not in a position to answer the call. In response, Bhattarai said, "I have to buy something for my sister-in-law and take it to her." He immediately said, "Do it or I'll leave."

While giving a statement to the investigating officers, Bhattarai admitted that he had written a message to Deepak because it was Valentine's Day and he wanted to buy something for his wife and go home. Bhattarai said that he got to know Bhandari while calling him requesting him to facilitate the reception of guests and the departure of relatives. He said that he would sometimes meet Bhandari and have coffee.

In response to Bhattarai's SMS, Bhandari said at 6 pm, "I will come tomorrow morning at home or wherever, today, sir." After he sent another SMS saying, "Don't mind," Joint Secretary Bhattarai replied, "This also happens."

Tirtharaj Bhattarai and other defendants involved in the visit visa case

Tirtharaj Bhattarai
Then Chief Immigration Officer

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Balkrishna Khadka Travel Company Director

Ram Khadka Mediator / Employee

Deepak Bhandari Travel Company Director

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Kavita Poudel Tirtharaj Bhattarai's relative

Khem Prasad Subedi Land Dealer

Note: This link-chart has been prepared based on the investigation and indictment details.

Joint Secretary Bhattarai sent a message to Bhandari on 20 April 2025 (7 Baisakh 2082) saying that there was ‘just 90 plates of momos’. Nine days later, he asked ‘village sister’ Kavita Poudel to go to a mobile shop on New Road. ‘Deepak Bhandari told me, I will take it up to 12,’ he wrote.

It has also been found that Balkrishna Khadka of Greenline Holidays and Ram Khadka of the same company had a conversation on WhatsApp about bribing Bhattarai. ‘Who will you give the money to, uncle?’ In a message sent by Ram asking, ‘Who will you give the money to?’, Balkrishna replied, ‘Keep it there and DG Saab will come, I will give it to DG Saab, now that he has come there, keep the restaurant bag and treat it as if you gave him a parcel.’ An audio has been found. Balkrishna has revealed in his statement that Joint Secretary Bhattarai is the DG.

According to the details collected by the investigation officers of the CIAA, 42,357 people who went abroad on visit visas when Joint Secretary Bhattarai was the head of the airport immigration office have not returned home. Of the names collected from the diary and mobile messages of the Joint Secretary, 257 passengers have gone abroad, according to the details provided by the immigration department. The investigation officers have also said that passports of various people were found on the laptop used by Bhattarai. The CIAA has submitted photos of 40 passports, both women and men, to the court.

The CIAA had received information in late April that youths were being sent abroad by adjusting ‘settings’ at the airport immigration. "After receiving such information repeatedly, we wrote to the Home Ministry twice, but no concrete action was taken," said a commissioner of the CIAA. "After that, we also sent a letter to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, and a letter was also received from there asking the Home Ministry to investigate." After the Home Ministry led by Ramesh Lekhak failed to take any action, the CIAA launched a secret operation on 4th Jestha. After Bhattarai's sudden transfer on the third day, CIAA chief Prem Kumar Rai also showed interest. Immediately on 7th Jestha, Bhattarai was taken into custody in a raid at the airport. "There was information that the money was distributed through software, and our officers were secretly deployed to catch him red-handed," the commissioner said, "but after the information leaked and he was suddenly transferred, we arrested him and proceeded with the investigation."