Sudhan Gurung, who emerged as a leader after the Gen-G movement, used to claim that he would truly stand up for good governance, saying, ‘I will take one rupee from the house of every corrupt person, drag them, bring them, and show them. The world will know how Nepal will change.’

Even when he spoke to the media for the first time on April 3 after assuming the responsibility of Home Minister, he had reiterated that he would not leave anyone behind. ‘I will not leave even my own father, I swear by my country,’ he had said. Gurung, who had said that he would not leave anyone behind, had to resign less than a month after becoming Home Minister after questions arose about his financial transactions.

He himself has come under investigation for the same things he used to tell others. He resigned on Wednesday, saying that he intended to ‘not show any conflict and not have any impact on it’ after controversy flared up over his business partnership with Deepak Bhatt, who is under investigation for money laundering.

‘I have resigned from the post of Home Minister with the aim of ensuring a fair investigation into matters related to me and that there is no conflict of interest while in office and that it does not have any impact,’ Gurung said on social media after submitting his resignation letter to Prime Minister Balendra Shah.

Sudhan Gurung had left the Disaster Authority meeting while it was in progress

He said that if anyone questions the government on the blood and sacrifice of 46 ‘brothers and sisters’, the only answer will be morality. ‘I have fulfilled my moral responsibility on my part. Now my appeal is that if we really want change, everyone must stand on the path of truth, honesty and self-purification,’ he said.

In public documents released through the media, Gurung has investments in Star Micro Insurance Company Limited and Liberty Micro Life Insurance, which are investments of the Bhatta and Shankar groups, which are under investigation. Minister Gurung’s asset details made public on 29 Chaitra did not mention the investments in these two micro life insurance companies.

In the asset details made public by the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Gurung had mentioned that he had shares worth Rs 3 million in Hope Holdings Pvt. Ltd. of 30,000 shares and Rs 5.7 million in Lagoom Premium Apartments Pvt. Ltd. of 57,000 shares. It was also mentioned that he had shares worth Rs 7 million in Adventure Villa Pvt. Ltd.

Similarly, the details also mentioned that he had shares worth Rs 27.456 million (traded in the stock market). Star and Liberty Micro Insurance Companies have not gone for IPO (initial share issue). Therefore, there is no trading in the stock market. On Wednesday, Kantipur Daily also presented a report on the opaque financial transactions of an organization called 'Hami Nepal', of which Gurung is the founder. Gurung resigned after all these controversies became public.

Before resigning, Gurung attended a meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority. According to Dinesh Bhatta, Chief Executive Officer of the NEA, Gurung was accompanied by Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Sunil Lamsal, a general of the army, Chief of Nepal Police Dan Bahadur Karki, and the Director General of the Roads and Irrigation Department at the meeting called to discuss the response to the monsoon-induced disaster. “The meeting discussed the status of the necessary materials for the disaster,” Bhatta told Kantipur.

Home Minister Sudhan Gurung resigns

Before making his final address in the meeting, Gurung left the meeting and went to the nearby Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to meet Prime Minister Shah. About an hour later, he announced his resignation on social media. According to sources close to the Prime Minister’s Office, preparations are underway to form a parliamentary investigation committee to investigate Gurung.

“Prime Minister Balendra Shah will assume the responsibility of the Home Ministry until the investigation into Gurung is completed,” said a member of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. “If Sudhan Gurung is found innocent, he will return to being the Home Minister. If found guilty, he will face action. But this investigation will be conducted by a parliamentary investigation committee formed by the parliament.'

Two days ago, on April 7, Gurung had clarified that there would be no conflict of interest as the body investigating the matters made public was not the Home Ministry but the Money Laundering Department under the Finance Ministry. 'There are hundreds or thousands of shareholders in the same company. Buying shares does not mean sharing with everyone. If we take that as the basis, then everyone who invested in the same company should be held equally guilty, which is not fair,' he had said.

Former Secretary Sharada Prasad Trital, who has been seriously raising questions on the issue of good governance, says that not only should he resign, but an investigation should be conducted after the question is raised. "If he is not found guilty, he should be given a clean chit, if he is found guilty, he should be sent to the concerned body for investigation," he told Kantipur. "For that, politically, the Prime Minister should form a committee or conduct an investigation through a parliamentary committee."

Sudhan Gurung's water park plan on the lake land: Business operation or contract cancellation

Since being appointed Home Minister on 13 Chaitra, Gurung has been presenting himself as the most active minister in the Balendra Shah-led government. He was praised by the citizens for his work, from going out for inspections almost every day and giving immediate instructions to those concerned for improvements to sleeping in the ministry at night. But some of his actions were controversial and some were commendable. 

As soon as the first cabinet meeting decided to implement the report of the inquiry commission investigating the incidents of 23 and 24 Bhadra, Gurung immediately started discussing the arrest of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is also the UML chairman, and former Home Minister and Congress leader Ramesh Lekhak. ‘After the decision is made by the cabinet, it has to be implemented according to the Prime Minister’s instructions, no one is exempt from this,’ he had said as soon as he assumed responsibility, ‘The martyr families, those who have lost their children, how many ministries will they visit?’

Even after such an announcement, the ministry’s employees and police leadership did not think that Gurung would press for ‘action’ so soon. Immediately after making the first decision to implement a one-door system for every work in the ministry, he had discussed the arrest of Oli and the writer with Nepal Police Chief Dan Bahadur Karki and Armed Police Chief Raju Aryal.

‘The police chiefs had said that they should only arrest Oli by issuing an arrest warrant from the court after studying the report,’ says a ministry official, ‘but he insisted that he should be arrested immediately, and the arrest was made the next morning.’ Ministry officials say that they have ‘never seen a stubborn minister like Gurung’.

The question of good governance over the Home Minister of a government built on the foundation of good governance

Gurung had reached the police headquarters for discussion after confusion was seen over the issue of arrest during the discussion at the ministry. He had even said that if he was not arrested, he would “stay at the headquarters.” According to the officer who participated in the discussion at the headquarters, when IGP Karki asked for time to study the report’s recommendations, Gurung had said that he could “draw conclusions by uploading the file to AI” and that there should be no delay in implementing it under any circumstances. After that, in a discussion with the police chief, Law Ministry Secretary Parashwar Dhungana was called.

Later, when Gurung was ready to give a written order to arrest Oli and the writer, the police arrested both of them in the morning by issuing urgent arrest warrants. But 13 days later, Oli and the writer were released on a court order. The police investigation against them has not been completed.

The day after Gurung was appointed Home Minister, he had even reached Pulchowk to choose his ministerial quarters. The judges had objected to that. He was staying in a building that was renovated and allocated for Supreme Court Judge Nahakul Subedi. Gurung had started making public details on his personal social media page when former Prime Minister Oli and former Minister Deepak Khadka were arrested.

Some even raised questions about that. When Khadka was arrested for money laundering, Gurung had made the arrest warrant public on Facebook. He expressed dissatisfaction with the judiciary after the arrested people started escaping from the court.

Last Thursday evening, Gurung told reporters that he had started studying law. ‘I thought, I am the biggest minister, everything can be improved from here,’ he said, ‘But, no, nowadays I am starting to think that I am a big judge.’

Facts and unanswered questions raised by new documents related to Home Minister Gurung

After becoming Home Minister, Gurung often drove his own car to various places for inspections. While holding the Home Ministry, he had gone to the Narayangadh-Butwal road section and given instructions to the contractor. After that, questions were raised even within the party that he had interfered in the work of other ministries. The Bagmati Province MPs elected by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had complained along with Prime Minister Shah that he had not coordinated when he went to Daudaha district for inspection.

Gurung, who had been saying that the trend of VIP-style vehicle decoration should be stopped before becoming the Home Minister, was even praised when he reached the canteen inside Singha Durbar and had lunch. On 16 Chaitra, after inspecting the Police Headquarters, Naxal, while IGP Karki was giving a speech, Gurung stood up and applauded, urging others to stand up, which also gained attention.

He had tried to win the hearts of the police officers by saying that he was aware of the problems faced by the police. After his speech, there was even a debate about changing the uniform of the police. The issue of political interference in the police had been a topic of discussion for a long time. However, he had also said that preparations were being made to take transfers and promotions into the system.