Kathmandu – On Sunday night, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) raided the house of Bhushan Rana, brother of Nepali Congress leader Arzu Rana and brother-in-law of party president Sher Bahadur Deuba. According to police sources, some documents were seized during the search.
Rana was outside the country at the time and thus not arrested. Sources said the raid was connected to further investigation into the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.
Earlier, after CIB chief AIG Manoj KC was transferred, the scope of investigation and prosecution in the case was narrowed, shielding senior political and administrative figures. But after the government led by Sushila Karki reinstated KC as CIB chief following the Gen-Z protests, the bureau resumed deeper investigation, leading to the raid.
“Under KC, the probe had advanced in a certain direction. Once he was removed, the approach changed completely, and prosecutions followed that pattern. The raid is part of correcting that course,” a source told Deshsanchar.
In the initial phase, statements and evidence had indicated direct involvement of top-level political and administrative leaders. But after KC’s removal, prosecution targeted only a few powerless figures and some mid-level officials.
The ongoing investigation is expected to pull in high-profile figures, including former home secretary Prem Rai, now head of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. CIB sources also hinted at possible links of Arzu Rana and Rajesh Bajracharya, personal secretary to KP Oli, to the scam.
So far, 30 people, including former home minister Bal Krishna Khand, secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, and UML leader and former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, have been indicted. They face charges of fraud, forgery, crimes against the state, and organized crime, with authorities demanding restitution of Rs 281 million.
People’s News Monitoring Service
Login to add a comment