KATHMANDU: Anil Kumar Pokharel, the former personal secretary of Rishikesh Pokharel, the Chair of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, has been arrested on charges of fraud.

The District Police Office, Morang, has stated that Pokharel was arrested from Biratnagar this morning.

The Morang Police was searching for Anil after the court issued an arrest warrant.

Anil, who is also the Morang district member of the CPN-UML, is accused of defrauding 3.88 million rupees by promising to get his name admitted to MBBS.

Pokharel had repeatedly taken 3.88 million rupees through checks between 2071 and 2073 BS, promising to get his name admitted to MBBS from the daughter of Baialal Chaudhary, a retired senior agricultural extension officer from Saptari.

After receiving the amount, he signed the half-cut of the check and took the responsibility of removing the name of Baialal’s daughter.

When he asked for the money back after his daughter’s name was not included in MBBS, Anil forced Chaudhary to sign a document for Rs 5 million on the pretext of a loan, dated July 9, 2017. Upon realizing the deceit, Chaudhary demanded his original payment of Rs 3.88 million back.

The Morang District Police Office and Rangeli Area Police Office had initially refused to register Chaudhary’s complaint.