The Special Court in Kathmandu ordered a bail of only Rs 5 lakh for former minister Ranjita Shrestha in the Pokhara litchi orchard bribery case. The bench of three judges of the Special Court, Sudarshan Dev Bhatta, Hemanta Rawal and Dilli Ratna Shrestha, had demanded a normal bail. Shrestha was released on Sunday after paying the bail. Earlier, the Special Court had ordered the remand of former minister Rajkumar Gupta for trial in the same case. Gupta is currently appealing to the Supreme Court after being sent to custody. Earlier, in the Lalita Niwas case, after Nepali Congress leader Vijay Kumar Gachhadar was released on bail, the then Special Court Chairman Prem Raj Karki was transferred. A bail of Rs 1 million was demanded from Gachhadar at that time. There was a dispute after he was released after paying the bail. Gachhadar was acquitted in the verdict. The special court's bench of President Sudarshan Dev Bhatt and Justices Dilli Ratna Shrestha and Vidur Koirala had ordered the remand for trial. The bench, which also included Bhatt and Shrestha, made the order on Sunday.

A corruption case was filed in the special court alleging that the then Minister Gupta had taken a bribe of Rs 5.3 million from a real estate businessman on the pretext of stopping the transfer of the chief officer of the Kaski-based Land Revenue Office and making him a member of the Land Commission.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority found that Minister Gupta and former Minister Ranjita Shrestha had taken a bribe of Rs 2.5 million in exchange for providing work facilities by abusing their positions.

What is the litchi orchard case?

An audio recording of the then ministers, employees and middlemen in the case of grabbing 134 ropanis of land in 'Litchie Orchard' in Batulechaur, Pokhara, Kaski was made public. The CIAA then took statements from the middlemen, including former ministers. After the audio of the bribe deal was made public, the then General Administration Minister Rajkumar Gupta resigned. The land was previously acquired by the Ranas. In 1979 BS, during the reign of the famous Jung Nur Pratap Jung Rana, Rudra Shamsher had acquired his Birta in the name of his two daughters Lokdivyaswari and Durgadevi. The Birta was abolished in 2016. Although there was a provision to convert the land acquired as Birta into Raikar, the Rana family does not seem to have done so. Lokdivyaswari was married to Khem Bikram Shah of Palpa Tansen, while Durgadevi was married to Tek Bahadur Shah.

Since 2017, Thakali, who came down from Mustang, has been buying land from the Rana family on the basis of deed and establishing a settlement. Meanwhile, Lokdivyaswari Shah and Durgadevi Shah filed a case of forgery and invalidation of documents against six people, including Hari Pratap Jung Rana. The Kaski court's decision on 29 Chaitra 2031 and the then Western Division Bench's decision on 3 Magh 2040 ruled in favor of Lokdivyaswari and Durgadevi. Mustangi, who had the right until 2032, issued a Lalpurja in his name after the survey came in 2033. The land was sold. A new survey was done in 2059.

According to Kaski's Chief Land Revenue Officer Chiranjivi Poudel, no one seems to have come to register the exempted land in 2036 and implement the decision even though it has already been made. The settlement in Batulechaur has already filled up.

It seems that 40 years after the verdict, Suraj Shah Thakuri, Sunil Shah Thakuri and Geeta Devi Shah, claiming to be the grandsons of Durgadevi Shah, submitted an application to the Land Revenue Office on 24 Magh 2080 for the implementation of the verdict. Sources say that the application was submitted to the Land Revenue Office by creating a beneficiary on 5 Baisakh 2059, while her husband Tek Bahadur had already passed away. The application submitted to the Land Revenue Office demands that the land numbers 25, 26 and 28 within the 4 plots mentioned in the court verdict be transferred and cancelled and land ownership certificate be obtained. 

Earlier, on 9 Bhadra 2080, Mrigendra Malla, claiming to be the heir of Lokdivyaswari's son Bharat Bikram Shah and his wife Chumman Shah, submitted an application to the Land Revenue Office. However, the application was rejected for not completing the process. It appears that the Ministry of Land Reforms and Cooperatives sent a letter to the Land Revenue Office, Kaski, via the Land Management Department, on 12 Jestha 2080 to implement the decision to confirm the land and bring it into the name of the rightful owner.

An agreement has also been found on the same day that Durgadevi's grandchildren submitted an application to the Land Revenue Office on 24 Magh 2080, whereby the land was registered between the intermediary and the established rightful owner. The agreement registered at the ward office of Pokhara-16 states that Dev Bahadur Malla and Yama Kumari Gurung of Syangja will bear all the expenses incurred in registering the land.