An arrest warrant has been issued against former energy minister and CPN-UML Secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and his son Sandeep in connection with a case which involved duping people on the pretext of sending them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

The Nepal Police, on Wednesday, obtained the arrest warrant against the former minister and his son from the Kathmandu District Court.

Likewise, police earlier on the day arrested Tek Narayan Pandey, secretary at the Vice President’s Office, in the same case.

A team from the Kathmandu Police Circle arrested Pandey from Jadibuti in the Capital, as a part of an investigation into the case. Pandey is being held at the Kathmandu Police Circle office in Teku. The police obtained an arrest warrant from the court to arrest him on Wednesday.

Secretary Pandey had fled from his house following the arrest of Indrajit Rai, a security adviser to former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa. Pandey worked as a secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs from August 11, 2021, until September 18, 2022.

While he was the secretary of the ministry, he was allegedly involved in the case of fake refugees and his association with the gangs. According to highly placed sources, he is also involved in money transactions with the gangs.

Senior Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Karki informed that the police have so far arrested Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Thulung Rai, Tanka Gurung and Sandesh Sharma Pokharel, in connection to the case.

Likewise, an arrest warrant has also been issued against Indrajit Rai’s son Neeraj. It is suspected that Neeraj has fled the country.

According to the statement of the arrestees, Indrajit Rai and his son had allegedly taken more than Rs50 million from the group over the years in several instances.

As per the preliminary investigation of the Kathmandu Valley Crime Division, Rai’s direct involvement in criminal activities has been established.

On June 14, 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police had launched an investigation into a criminal group involved in fraud. The group had allegedly been scamming people for the past five years by promising to fly them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

The victims had filed a case against the group at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority at the end of 2021. However, the case was brought to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Division only in June 2022.

The group has allegedly swindled millions of rupees from over 1,000 people from different places in Nepal.