By Our Reporter
In a dramatic development, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) Tuesday arrested seven persons including former Election Commissioner Sudhir Shah in connection to the case related to Lalita Niwas land scam.
After making needed preparations, the CIB nabbed the seven persons, the majority of them former employees of the Land Revenue Office, Dilli Bazaar, Kathmandu, in the case.
High-profile politicians including Bishnu Paudel of the CPN-UML are linked in the much-talked-about Lalita Niwas land scam and the public has been waiting for actions against the culprits involved in the case.
Earlier, the investigation into the case was halted for a year and a half due to the intervention of the Attorney General. But now it has resumed as was expected after the CIB arrested 16 persons including the NC leader Bal Krishna Khand and CPN-UML secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi in the fake Bhutanese refugee case and put them in judicial custody.
On Tuesday, the CIB arrested Min Bahadur Gurung, the owner of the Bhatbhateni department store, Shah and five former employees of the Dilli Bazaar Land Revenue Office.
Kaladhar Deuja, Surendraman Kapali, Dharma Prasad Gautam, Gopal Karki and Bhupendra Mani KC were arrested. Deuja is the former head of the Dilli Bazaar Land Revenue Office.
KC was an official at the Dilli Bazaar Land Revenue Office and was even hired as a land expert by the Commission Abuse of Authority Investigation. Gautam and Kapali are also government officials. The CIB is looking for more people involved in the case say sources.
The CIAA initiated an investigation into the irregularities concerning the Lalita Niwas land. But the case was pending in the special court.
In addition to the corruption charges, the CIAA had said these people need to be investigated for fraud and forgery of government documents.
However, the Attorney General’s Office closed the file saying that a fraud case could not be filed.
The initiative taken by the government to book the culprits associated with the Lalita Niwas scam has pleased the people.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal who had argued that his government would open the files related to the corruption case have transformed his words into action. However, as many leaders of the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML as well as Madhav Kumar Nepal have also been dragged into the case, he might face pressure from the NC and other parties. But what he had begun is really laudable, and he should work to take the cases of corruption to a logical conclusion.
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