KATHMANDU: Eight staff members from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Immigration Office have been transferred in connection with an investigation into a visit visa case.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also reassigned a deputy sub-inspector and a computer operator, citing possible high-level involvement in the case.

Among those transferred are Deputy Sub-Inspectors Prem Prasad Paudel and Bir Bhadra Joshi, who have been posted to the District Administration Office in Kathmandu. Another deputy sub-inspector, Nara Bahadur Thapa, has been relocated to the District Administration Office in Banke.

Additionally, computer operators Uden Subedi, Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Pawan Gurung, Dhanraj Upadhyay, and assistant computer operator Kamala Shrestha have been reassigned to the Department of Prison Management or its subordinate units.

The reshuffle comes as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) intensifies its probe. On May 21, the CIAA detained Joint Secretary Tirtharaj Bhattarai of the Ministry of Home Affairs—just hours after he was transferred there from the Department of Immigration.

Investigators have also confiscated Bhattarai’s mobile phone and sent it for forensic analysis. CIAA sources suggest more officials may come under scrutiny as the investigation progresses.