A police patrol team in civvies led by Constable Pramod Singh had about four months ago seized the gold being smuggled from Biratnagar in Morang to Rajbiraj in Saptari and handed it over to Superintendent of Police (SP) Dinesh Amatya, a police source said. SP Amatya was posted at the Saptari District Police Office (DPO) then. The source said that a businessman in Biratnagar was smuggling the gold so as to sell it to an Indian businessman when the police seized the bullion.

He further said that police had arrested the two parties involved in smuggling the gold and forced them to disown it by threatening that they will face serious charges for smuggling if they don’t do as they are told.

It has been learnt that SP Amatya took a major chunk of the gold and distributed the remaining among the police team that had confiscated it. “The seized gold was never made public. Neither was it handed over to concerned customs office,” said the source.

SP Amatya, however, refuted the allegations, saying that some people and police officials are hatching a plot against him by spreading false rumours about the incident.

“I have no knowledge whatsoever of a police patrol team confiscating 15 kg gold bar during my tenure at the Saptari DPO,” he said, and demanded an investigation into the allegation. Constable Singh, who is posted in Kathmandu at present, said over the phone that he is not aware of the confiscation of the gold and its subsequent disappearance. A police source said that Constable Singh is a confidant of SP Amatya and that Singh was sent to the Zonal Police Office, Rajbiraj on deputation during Amatya’s tenure at the DPO.