The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a corruption case against Dr Gyanendra Giri, vice-chancellor of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, at the Special Court on Monday for claiming a false designation.

The anti-graft body said that Dr Giri, while carrying out his duty as vice-chancellor, had been using the designation ‘professor’ with the intention of misleading others as he held no such official position.

With the filing of the case, he is now automatically suspended from his post as per the Corruption Prevention Act-2002.

There is a provision punishing the public officials claiming false designations in section 15 of the Corruption Prevention Act and the anti-graft body sought the punishment from as per the same provision.

One convicted for false designation claims is liable to one to two years of imprisonment and a fine ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs100,000, depending on the degree of the offence committed, according to the law.

The CIAA has also sought punishment as per the section 24 of the law which has made provision of sentencing the person who is head of the public office, public officials ranked special class and above with a jail-term of three extra years.

On September 12, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Population had made it clear in a press statement that Dr Giri was not a ‘professor’.

The ministry had stated in a press statement that Dr Giri had failed to provide evidence that he was a professor and a legal process was undertaken. The agitating doctors at the institute had been demanding legal action against Dr Giri.

Former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had appointed Dr Giri as the vice-chancellor of the institute in April 2020 on the recommendation of Health Minister Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal.

Dr Giri had claimed to BBC Nepali service in September 2021 that he had worked as a professor at Birat Medical College while heading its internal medicine department.

Dr Giri, who had opened the Nobel Medical College based in Biratnagar in partnership with Sunil Sharma, a federal lawmaker elected from Morang-3.

After leaving Nobel following a bitter ownership dispute with Sharma, Dr Giri later opened Birat Medical College in partnership with Dr Gyanendra Man Singh Karki, who is the chairperson of the college.

The anti-graft body on Monday filed the corruption case against Dr Karki for playing the role of an accomplice. According to the CIAA, Dr Karki gave Dr Giri the position of a professor at Birat Medical College even though he was not authorised to do so.

An investigation committee headed by government secretary Baikuntha Aryal had also identified many irregularities at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Science under the command of Dr Giri. The committee was formed in response to addressing the demands of the protesting doctors.

Meanwhile, the CIAA on Monday also arrested Purna Prasad Chudal, chief of management division at the Internal Terminal Management Department, on corruption charges. CIAA said in a statement that Chudal was arrested with cash Rs800,000 whose source could not be disclosed.

The CIAA said that an additional amount was found with him after he received the graft of Rs 150,000 from the service seekers.

“He is in our custody and interrogation is underway,” said Shyam Prasad Bhandari, spokesperson of the CIAA.