Preparations are underway to sign an agreement between Nepal and India on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

Nepal and Indian officials are preparing to set a date for signing the agreement. However, discussions are ongoing on whether to do it before or after the elections. 

A preliminary agreement was reached on the agreement at a Home Secretary-level meeting held in New Delhi, India in July last year. Similarly, the interim government led by Sushila Karki had decided to sign it last October.

Officials from the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have said that discussions are currently underway for its signing.

This agreement will help control cross-border crime, facilitate information exchange, share investigative evidence, cooperate in prosecution, and coordinate criminal investigations between the legal authorities of both countries. For this, both countries have been in dialogue for years.

In the absence of a mutual legal assistance and extradition treaty, security authorities have been facing legal and administrative complications for a long time in handing over criminals to each other.