Baluwatar scandal: 300 to be arrested for document forgery

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has been authorized by the Kathmandu District Court to arrest over 300 people on charges related to the forgery of documents. They had attempted to illegally own the land inside the Prime Minister’s Residence at Baluwatar.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had initiated investigations against those allegedly involved in the scam.

CIAA has not provided detailed information about the people who are going to be arrested, as doing so will affect the investigation.

Two of the accused, Ram Kumar Subedi and his wife Madhavi Subedi, have been arrested so far for helping the illegal transfer of government property to individuals. The couple was found to have been involved in the Lalita Niwas land scandal from the very beginning.

Subedi had allegedly played a vital role in coordination with Shobha Kanta Dhakal to register the Lalita Niwas land in the name of an individual. All three are also accused of corruption.

Cases can only be filed within two years in cases of government documents forgery. People involved in forgery can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined Rs 100,000.

As per Section 276 (5) of the Criminal (Code) Act, if somebody acquires property through forgery, the property must be returned to the owner. If the property has been damaged, the property owner must be compensated too.

The CIB had prepared to file four separate cases of forgery against some involved in the scam. Some were not involved in all four illegal acts, and they will only face as many cases as their involvement.

A committee led by former government secretary Sharada Prasad Trital had discovered that attempts were being made to illegally acquire approximately 6.96 hectares of government-owned land by some individuals. Late Nepali Congress leader, Subarna Shumsher, was the owner of this property before the government acquired it.

Former deputy prime minister and minister for physical infrastructure and transport Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, and two former land reforms ministers Dambar Shrestha and Chandra Dev Joshi are also facing corruption charges over the scandal.