Rupandehi District Court on Friday sent Om Prakash Gurung, the chairman of the Butwal-based Supreme Saving and Credit Co-operative, to jail for judicial custody on the charges of cooperative frauds.

Gurung who has been accused of embezzling Rs1,078,267,729 of savings deposited by over 10 thousand depositors at the Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai-led cooperative was sent to jail by judge Shriprakash Upreti.

However, the court released six others, including Dipesh Pun son of former Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, who were also accused of embezzling cooperative funds.

The junior Pun has been ordered to be released on a bail of Rs400,000, district court Information Officer Ananta Raj Marasini told the Post.

Likewise, the court has demanded bail amount of Rs1.8 million from Durga Pandey Chapagain, manager of the Butwal-based cooperative, Rs1 million from Nabin Achhami, Rs445,000 from Deepak Neupane, and Rs200,000 each from Nita Thapa Magar and Roshni Gurung.

The International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL), on January 28, had issued a diffusion notice against GB Rai, who is also the founding chairman of Pokhara Suryadarshan Savings and Credit Cooperatives, who has been accused of embezzling over Rs1 billion. He has been on the run.

As per police investigation, it has been found that Rs79.5 million from the Butwal-based cooperative was provided to five different companies where Rai is the chairman.

Rai also co-founded Galaxy Television jointly with popular television journalist Rabi Lamichhane, who is now the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs. Lamichhane, who was managing director of the media company, later quit the television, subsequently formed the party and won election for a federal parliament seat from Chitwan.

The television channel shut down its operations recently.