Ramchandra Sah, who had gone to exchange 250,000 rupees he had earned for the treatment of his cancer-stricken wife, was arrested at the border on his return. He was released after paying a deposit and has been struggling to return the money and cover the treatment expenses for the past one and a half months.
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Ramchandra Sah of Chapena, Rajgadh Rural Municipality-4, Saptari has been wandering for one and a half months to get his cancer-stricken wife treated but has not been able to raise the money.
He has been working in Gurgaon, Delhi, India for 26 years and has been treating his 50-year-old wife, Maheshwori Devi Sah, who is suffering from cancer, for the past 4 years.
He returned home from the Banainiya checkpoint via Anaramanth in Bihar on Falgun 26, carrying the 250,000 rupees he had earned there. However, he needed Nepali rupees to take his wife to the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur for further treatment, so he returned to Anaramanth after 3 days to exchange at the local rate. On Falgun 29, Ramchandra, who was returning from there, was arrested at the Banainiya checkpoint with the 400,000 Nepali rupees he had exchanged and another 13,200.
Border Out Post (BOP) Banainiya arrested him and handed him over to the Rajbiraj Customs Office on the same day along with the money. The Customs also filed a case against Ramchandra for smuggling cash and sent him to police custody for investigation. The family, who received news of the matter, took a loan from the villagers and released Ramchandra on bail of the same amount, but they have not been able to raise the medical expenses. 'If the money had not been confiscated, my wife would be undergoing treatment now.' But due to lack of funds, even though her health condition is critical, she is forced to stay at home,' he said. 'I am trying to make ends meet.'
Ramchandra has been wandering for one and a half months to return the money 'confiscated' at the border and to raise additional loans. So far, he has neither received the money back nor been able to get the loan.
‘Even though I showed the salary slip I received from King Management Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in Gurgaon, my identity card, the return ticket from there in the local bus and the document stating that my wife is suffering from cancer, no one understood my pain,’ said Ramchandra. ‘Despite repeated requests to expedite the process, there has been no hearing.’
He said that he has not been able to raise funds for his wife’s treatment as he had taken loans from wherever he could and posted bail when he was arrested. ‘A month and a half has passed since I visited the Finance Ministry, Armed Police Force and District Administration Office,’ he said, ‘Now it is difficult to get more loans, there is no decision on whether to get the money back. I have not been able to sleep because of the pain of whether I can save my wife or not.’
Ramchandra has also submitted a petition to the District Administration Office to take the initiative to return the money, saying that he could not get his wife’s treatment after the money he earned through hard work was confiscated on Chaitra 18. The district administration has also written to the Armed Police Force No. 6 Battalion Headquarters on the same day to seek information on the matter. However, Assistant Chief District Officer Naresh Kumar Yadav said that no further information has been received from there so far. Meanwhile, Information Officer of the Rajbiraj Customs Office, Vijay Kumar Sah, said that further investigation is underway on the matter. ‘A case has been filed against him and an investigation is underway,’ he said, ‘The case may take up to 6 months to be concluded.’
