The Kaski District Court has ordered the release of two Gandaki Medical College employees, who were arrested on a fraud charge, on bail.

A single bench of district judge Lal Kaji Shrestha on Monday passed the order to release college’s Chief Executive Officer Santosh Khanal and Exam Controller Laxman Prasad Sharma, setting a bail amount of Rs1.7 million each.

Over 50 students, pursuing medical courses at the college, had filed five separate complaints at Kaski District Police against 11 college officials, including college Chairman Khuma Prasad Aryal, for charging them excessive fee.

As per the government decision, the fee in Kathmandu Valley has been set at Rs3.8 million while private medical colleges outside the Valley should not charge more than Rs4.24 million for the MBBS course. However, students have accused Gandaki Medical College of collecting up to Rs1.3 million in extra charges from a single student.

Following the complaints, Kaski Police took Khanal and Sharma in judicial custody and registered a forgery case against the duo at the Kaski District Court last month.

However, Aryal and eight others–Principal Rabeendra Prasad Shrestha; Chief Administrative Officer Krishna Ghimire; Finance Controller Yub Raj Sharma; accounts officials Hari Maya Poudel and Dinesh Poudel; storekeeper Krishna Poudel and staffers Bishworaj Ghimire and Tilak Poudel–have been on the run after police issued an arrest warrant against them.