Former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey have been found guilty of conspiring to smuggle Nepali citizens to the US by posing as fake Bhutanese refugees. Three years after the case was filed, a bench of District Court Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka found them guilty on Tuesday. The court order states that they were found guilty of forgery, fraud, organized crime and crimes against the state based on the crime and role.

The court found guilty the gang members Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, then Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa's security advisor Indrajit Rai, Govinda Chaudhary, former Congress MP Angtawa Sherpa, then Haj Committee Chairman Shamsher Miya, Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rijal, then Home Minister Khand's personal secretary Narendra KC, middlemen Haribhakta Maharjan, Niranjan Kumar Kharel and Bechan Jha. 

The court has described the case as a crime against the state and has directly damaged the self-respect of Nepali citizens, damaging Nepal's international image. Seven people, including the defendant in the case, Sandeep Rayamajhi, have been acquitted. The court acquitted the defendants Sandeep, Ram Sharan KC, Tank Kumar Gurung, Prateek Thapa, Laxmi Maharjan, Keshav Tuladhar and Ashish Budhathoki, saying that the charges were not proven.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Rayamajhi and former Home Minister Khand were found guilty in the fake Bhutanese refugee case, but the district court's brief order states that the case has been adjourned so that the accused who are absconding will be arrested according to the law. The eight absconding defendants who have been adjourned are Ashok Pokharel, Dhiren Rai, Deepa Humagain, Neeraj Rai, Rajesh Aryal, Mohanraj Rai, Binita Savden Limbu and Sunil Budhathoki. The court has fixed 29 Ashad for the determination of the sentence against the convicted.

The court's brief order states that the person found guilty committed a crime against the state by committing fraud in an organized manner. According to the order, refugee leader Rijal and his gang members Dulal and Sanu Bhandari have been found guilty of forgery. The defendants Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Indrajit Rai, Govinda Chaudhary, Angtawa Sherpa, Teknarayan Pandey and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi have been found guilty of fraud and organized crime.

Former Home Minister Khand has been found guilty as an accomplice in organized fraud. He has been found guilty of this crime as an accomplice for acting under the undue influence of the gang. Teknath Rijal, Narendra KC, Shamsher Miya, Haribhakta Maharjan, Niranjan Kumar Kharel and Bechan Jha have been found guilty of organized fraud for becoming accomplices of the gang even though it appears that he did not take the money. Similarly, the court has found Dulal, Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Indrajit Rai, Chaudhary, Sherpa, Pandey and Rayamajhi guilty of committing organized fraud and crimes against the state and integrated crimes. Former Minister Khand, refugee leader Rijal, along with Narendra KC, Shamsher Miya, Haribhakta Maharjan, and Niranjan Kumar Kharel have been found guilty of committing organized fraud and integrated crimes against the state and integrated crimes.

Along with this, those involved in the heinous crime of committing against the state structure and high-ranking government officials and employees have been punished.

Based on the police investigation report, on 10 Jestha 2080, the District Government Attorney's Office, Kathmandu, filed a case against 30 people including Rayamajhi and Khand, charging them with four crimes: fraud, organized crime, and crimes against the state. 18 people were arrested when the case was filed. On 1 Ashad, the bench of District Judge Prem Prasad Neupane had granted bail of Rs 1 million to Tanka Gurung and Rs 5 million to Laxmi Maharjan, among the accused, and sent 16 others to jail during the trial.

Fake Bhutanese refugee case: Conviction of 14 On 29 Ashad,

The defendants who were in custody went to the Patan High Court, while some of the accused were released on bail and on ordinary dates. The bench of District Court Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka disposed of the same case on Tuesday. The court had been hearing the case continuously since 27 Jestha.

In a bid to tarnish Nepal's international image, an organized gang had conspired to send Nepali citizens to the US as fake Bhutanese refugees by taking high-ranking officials in the state machinery.

The court has stated that this case has tarnished the country's international image and that high-ranking officials, employees and middlemen have committed organized crimes. The order also states that the Ministry of Home Affairs' records regarding the forgery of government documents show that 10 schedules have been prepared that are different from the original report. "Since it was found that the fake report had been tampered with and some details of the original report had been altered and a fake identity card had been issued claiming to be a Bhutanese refugee, the crime of forgery has been established. The crime of fraud involving a political figure, administrator, employee, and a person active as a middleman was found to have been involved in the crime of fraud involving an organized fraud. The crime of fraud involving a large amount of money from the victim by making him a fake Bhutanese refugee and sending him to the US cannot be considered as a collective fraud, and the crime of organized crime has been confirmed," the court order said. "Since it was found that the crime was an organized fraud that directly harmed the self-respect of Nepali citizens and tarnished the international image of the state of Nepal, it has been confirmed that the plaintiff in the present case committed an offense against the state as charged by the government of Nepal."

Kathmandu District Court finds guilty in the fake Bhutanese refugee case 

The order further states, ‘Since the indictment has been framed as a consolidated offense and has demanded punishment, fraud, forgery of government documents, organized crime and offense against the state have been found in the same incident, it has been confirmed that a consolidated offense has been committed. As per the indictment of the Government of Nepal, the accused has committed the offense of fraud and organized crime.’

Kantipur had ‘exposed’ this case in Jestha 2079. After that, the District Police Range Kathmandu and the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office had started an investigation. In the course of that, the investigation that began after the arrest of the gang’s planner Keshav Dulal on 12 Chaitra 2079, former ministers, former secretaries and members of the organized gang were drawn into the investigation.

After concluding its investigation, the police submitted a report to the Government Attorney's Office, and the Government Attorney's Office, Kathmandu, filed a case against 30 people on 10 Jestha 2080, demanding a fine of 288.1 million rupees and imprisonment and recovery of the defrauded amount. On 1 Ashar, the bench of District Judge Prem Prasad Neupane had ordered a bail of 1 million rupees for Tanka Gurung and 500,000 rupees for Laxmi Maharjan, among the defendants, and sent them to jail for trial.

Following the court order, former Deputy Prime Minister and then UML Secretary Rayamajhi, former Home Minister and Congress leader Khand, then Home Secretary Pandey and then Home Minister Thapa's security advisor Rai, former MP Sherpa, Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rijal, gang members Dulal, Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, former Minister Rayamajhi's son Sandeep, then Home Minister Khand's personal secretary KC, Govinda Kumar Chaudhary, Ram Sharan KC, then Chairman of the Haj Committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs Miyan and middleman Maharjan were sent to jail.

The following year, on 9 Baisakh 2081, a supplementary case was filed in the court against five people including gang member Keshav Dulal on the complaint of Dawafuri Sherpa. After the case reached the court, one of the defendants, Prateek Thapa, son of former Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, was arrested on 4 Asad 2081. During the investigation, another suspect, Bechan Jha, was arrested by the police from the Nepal-India border area of ​​Kanchanpur and brought to Kathmandu. After investigating, a supplementary case was filed against him on 29 Shrawan 2081. The court heard the original case and the subsequent supplementary cases and disposed of the case.

After the district court ordered to send him to jail on remand in the original case, the defendants including Rayamajhi and Khand had approached the High Court against it in Shrawan 2080. While hearing it, on 15 Mangs, the high court slightly overturned the district court's order and released Haribhakta Maharjan, Narendra KC, Sandeep Rayamajhi, Teknath Rijal and Ram Sharan KC, who were sent to remand, on bail and released Tanka Gurung, Laxmi Maharjan, Ashish Budhathoki and Keshav Tuladhar on bail and on a date. After the higher court's order, Sandeep Rayamajhi was released on bail of Rs 3 million, Rijal, Maharjan and Ramsharan KC on bail of Rs 1.5 million each, and Narendra KC and Shamsher Miya on bail of Rs 1 million each.

The case was referred to another bench after Justices Janak Pandey and Prakash Kharel disagreed on whether to uphold the district court's order to send former Home Minister Khand to remand or release him on bail. On November 28, 2080, a single bench of Justice Krishnaram Koirala ordered Khand to be released on bail of Rs 3 million. The district court's order to send the remaining defendants, including former Deputy Prime Minister Rayamajhi, to remand was upheld by the higher court.

When the district court was charged, it was stated that the Money Laundering Investigation Department should also investigate the defendants, and Khand, who was released on bail of Rs 1.5 million, was produced before the Money Laundering Investigation Department and released. After the high court ordered the remand, the remaining defendants, including former Deputy Prime Minister Rayamajhi, then Secretary Pandey, and then Home Minister's advisor Rai, approached the Supreme Court against it. On April 13, 2002, a bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Tek Prasad Dhungana ordered that Angtawa Sherpa and Govinda Chaudhary be released on bail and Miya be remanded in custody, while Rayamajhi, Pandey, Bhandari, Dulal, Sandesh, Indrajit, and Sagar Rai remain in custody. Prateek Thapa, who was arrested after the case was filed in the court, and Jha, who was made a defendant in the supplementary prosecution, are also in jail.

Extortion of crores of rupees by pretending to take Bhutanese refugees to America

Bhutanese citizens who were displaced from Bhutan and settled in camps in Jhapa and Morang, Nepal as refugees, went to America, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Finland, Canada and other countries during the resettlement of the remaining number, and under the pretext of managing the remaining number, an organized gang had taken over the machinery of the Ministry of Home Affairs and created a refugee case. Under that, it was also revealed that the gang took over the machinery of the Ministry of Home Affairs, including ministers, parliamentarians, and employees, to send 429 Nepalis in the first batch to America in the guise of refugees and extorted money from the youth and created fake refugees.

From Bhutan in the year 1990, After the refugees who were displaced in the 1990s and settled in camps in Jhapa and Morang in eastern Nepal were resettled in countries such as the US, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Finland, Canada, and others, a study task force was formed to look into how to manage the remaining 6,500 refugees. An organized gang forged the report of the same task force and created a game of fake refugees by extorting money from youths from Jhapa to Kanchanpur.

Investigation revealed that high-ranking government officials and employees were involved in the same plan. The organized gang had plotted to send 429 Nepalis to the US under refugee cover by taking control of the study task force report and the machinery of the Home Ministry. This matter was brought under investigation after the revelation of that crime. It is also mentioned that Khand, who was the Home Minister on 29 Ashad 2079 and Pandey, who became the Home Secretary on 27 Shrawan 2078, worked to support this scheme right after taking office.

The investigation also revealed that the then Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey had forged the schedule of the report of the task force led by former Joint Secretary Bal Krishna Panthi, prepared by the government on 2 Jestha 2076 BS for the management of the remaining genuine refugees in the camps of Jhapa and Morang, and had given it to the gang. After finding objections in the Panthi report submitted to the Home Ministry on 1 Kartik 2076 BS, the then government had stopped its implementation. 

However, the gang had also altered the schedule of the same report in which objections were found and added a fake list. It was alleged that the then Home Minister Khand had assisted in it and that another former minister, Rayamajhi, had worked in collaboration with the gang. An attempt was made to get the government to decide to send some of those who had been recovered in the first lot to the US from the same forged list.