The Kathmandu District Court has extended the custody of 12 individuals, including former home minister Bal Krishna Khand, who have been arrested in connection with the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, by four days.

According to District Court Information Officer Dipak Dahal, the court extended the remand of the arrestees by four days for further investigation as sought by the Office of the District Attorney.

Earlier in the day, the court had issued an arrest warrant against Nepali Congress leader and former lawmaker Ang Tawa Sherpa and Pratik Thapa, son of CPN-UML vice-chair Ram Bahadur Thapa, who is also a former home minister.

A team from Kathmandu Police Circle on May 10, had arrested former home minister and Nepali Congress leader Khand from his residence in Mainjubahal and his personal aide Narendra KC for their alleged involvement in the scam where many Nepalis were swindled out of millions of rupees in return for sending them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. The District Court, on the same day, had granted the police permission to extend Khand’s custody for four days to further investigate the matter.

Khand and KC’s arrests came after Tek Narayan Pandey, currently a secretary at the Vice Presedent’s office and former home secretary, allegedly implicated them in the refugee scam. Pandey was appointed a secretary at the Home Ministry by Khand when he was leading the ministry.

So far, the police have arrested 12 people for allegedly being involved in the scam.

On May 9, two individuals Govinda Chaudhary of Siraha and Ram Sharan KC of Kathmandu were arrested from the Capital in connection with the case.

Earlier, the police arrested Indrajit Rai, who served as security adviser to the then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa for his active role in helping Nepalis forge documents for their emigration to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

The police have also arrested Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Thulung Rai, Tanka Gurung and Sandesh Sharma Pokhrel as the suspected prime accused in the case. All of them had strong political connections.

Meanwhile, UML Secretary and former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi has been absconding since May 4 after Kathmandu District Court issued an arrest warrant against him and his son. Police have already arrested his son, Sandeep.

The court, on May 7, had extended the custody of eight people, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the scam.