The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has started arresting people allegedly involved in the forgery of government documents with the intent to transfer the ownership of government land located at Lalita Niwas, Baluwatar, in the name of private individuals.

The police said the CIB on Tuesday had arrested seven individuals including ex-election commissioner Sudhir Shah, owner of Bhatbhateni supermarket Min Bahadur Gurung and former government officials including Kaladhar Deuja, then chief of the Dillibazar Land Revenue Office.

The others arrested are Surendra Kapali, Dharma Prasad Gautam, Hupendra Mani KC and Gopal Karki.

Citing last year’s Supreme Court order, the CIB, however, released Deuja, KC and Kapali later in the day.

The Supreme Court, on August 4 last year had issued an interim order to initiate investigations against them without detaining them.

“More arrests will follow,” a CIB source told the Post. Except Gopal Karki, the remaining six are also defendants in a corruption case filed by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on February 5, 2020 in connection with the land scam.

CIB chief Additional Inspector General Kiran Bajracharya told the Post that seven people were arrested on Tuesday after the District Court, Kathmandu issued an arrest warrant against them at CIB’s request. “They will be investigated for possible prosecution in connection with the forgery of government documents,” said Bajracharya. “We will consult the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu, to explore if any additional accusations apply.”

Nearly a year and a half after the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu returned the investigation report to the CIB requesting further investigation, police have again started apprehending people on the charge of their involvement in the land grab scam.

Police said new arrests were made based on separate investigations against the persons involved in the forgery of government documents.

Even though the former election commissioner Shah was not made a defendant in the corruption case filed by the CIAA, his wife Urmila Shah was.

The anti-graft body had filed cases against 175 people. Of them, 110 were accused of corruption while 65 faced cases as the government sought the return of lands illegally obtained by them.

Former deputy prime minister and minister for physical infrastructure and transport Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, and two former land reforms ministers Dambar Shrestha and Chandra Dev Joshi, along with three former government secretaries, are among those accused of corruption over the illegal transfer of government lands.

Most of those charged with corruption including Gurung had earlier been released by the court on bail.

After completing a separate investigation on forgery of government documents in connection with the land scam, the CIB on January 6 last year had submitted its investigation report to the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu recommending prosecution of more than 300 people, including top retired officials.

The CIB, citing the statute of limitations as per the Criminal (Code) Act-2017, had recommended that the prosecutions should be made by January 11, 2022.

As per Section 283 of the Criminal (Code) Act-2017, the statute of limitations for cases of forgery of government documents is two years from the date of the knowledge of the crime.

But the District Attorney Office returned the police document recommending more investigations so that they could be prosecuted based on the General Code-2020 BS as the land grab at Baluwatar happened before the Criminal (Code) Act-2017 came into force.

Point Number 18 under the ‘Forged Document or Forgery’ section of the General Code states, “If a suit on any matter other than on the matter of forgery or fraud of a document bearing government seal or of any other document held in a government office or on any matter of verbal forgery or saying or writing any false designation or of dismissal of employees [parapajani] by saying or writing so is not filed within six months of its knowledge, from the date of cause of action, the suit shall not be entertained.”

So, the CIB continued with its investigation as advised by the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu. “We are now close to completing the investigation,” said AIG Bajracharya. “There are certain things to be verified and some things to be clarified.”

She said that statements that the CIB would take of those arrested would be crucial to conclude the investigation. “Those arrested are people belonging to the first layer of the accused who were involved in transferring the ownership of government lands in the names of individuals,” Bajracharya added.

For example, Shah’s wife Urmila had received a Lalita Niwas plot as a gift, allegedly in exchange for Shah’s help in transferring large chunks of land in the names of the persons behind the scam.

Even though police arrested seven people on Tuesday, Bajacharya didn’t confirm immediately as to how many people would be arrested and how many would be prosecuted immediately under fresh charges.

Early last year, the CIB had recommended to the District Attorney General Kathmandu, to prosecute more than 300 people, including five former secretaries. These included Deep Basnyat, Yubaraj Bhusal, Chhabi Raj Pant, Narayan Gopal Malego and Dinesh Hari Adhikari along with Bhatbhateni store owner Gurung and alleged land mafia—Ram Kumar Subedi and Shobhakanta Dhakal.

Bajracharya, however, hinted that the ongoing investigation would soon be completed. “The CIB in the past submitted its investigation report to the district attorney after probing several aspects of the scam. So, there is not much to be investigated.”

The scam was initially unearthed by a probe committee led by former government secretary Sharada Prasad Trital and the case was pursued by the Central Investigation Bureau of the Nepal Police, before the anti-corruption body initiated its own investigation.

Although the Panchayat regime after the royal coup in 1960 had seized a portion of land belonging to the Nepali Congress leader Subarna Sumsher Rana at Baluwatar, the regime had also acquired larger plots by paying him compensation.

A government committee in 2019 had discovered that 136 ropani 14 ana 2 paisa (6.96487 hectares) of government land had been illegally registered in the name of several individuals.

After the restoration of democracy in 1990, the Krishna Prasad Bhattarai-led Cabinet decided to return the land seized by the Panchayat regime. Thereon, a scam emerged as even the legally-acquired lands were returned to the descendants of Subarna Sumsher Rana. Those plots were then sold and re-sold several times with the alleged land mafias playing an active role.