The Kathmandu District Court has extended the custody of eight people, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in a scam of swindling scores of people promising them of sending to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

Kathmandu Police Circle spokesperson Superintendent of Police Sitaram Rijal, informed that the court has extended the custody of those arrested for investigation for seven days.

A total of eight people including Tek Narayan Pandey, who was currently a secretary at the Vice President’s Office and previously as Home Secretary, and other officials have been arrested so far on the charge of their alleged involvement in the scam.

The police on May 2 had also arrested Indrajit Rai, a security adviser to then-home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, from his Saukhel-based residence on the basis of the statements of the arrestees.

The Kathmandu District Court on May 3 issued separate arrest warrants against former energy minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and his son, Sandeep.

On June 14, 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police had launched an investigation into a criminal group involved in a case of fraud. The group had allegedly been scamming people for years by promising to send them to the US as Bhutanese refugees.

The government action was in response to a case filed by the victims at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority against the group a few months earlier. The case was brought to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Division only in June 2022 after which the investigation was launched.

The group has allegedly swindled over 875 people from different places in Nepal of millions of rupees.

The police earlier arrested Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Thulung Rai, Tanka Gurung and Sandesh Sharma Pokhrel as suspected prime accused in the case. All of them had strong political connections.

Published on: 8 May 2023 | The Kathmandu Post