The Kathmandu District Court on Sunday extended the custody of 17 individuals arrested in connection with the Lalita Niwas land scam by five days.

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police had sought the extension of custody of the arrested individuals for additional investigation into the case.

Earlier on July 4, the court had allowed the police to investigate the accused for organised crime while extending their custody following which the CIB, which has been probing them for document forgery, is also conducting investigations on a case of organised crime. The CIB had argued that the government-owned Lalita Niwas land at Baluwatar was illegally transferred in the name of individuals through collusion among officials.

The police had arrested seven suspects on June 27, but released Kaladhar Deuja, Surendra Kapali and Hupendra Mani KC later in the day owing to the stay order.

The other four—former election commissioner Sudhir Shah, Bhatbhateni Supermarket owner Min Bahadur Gurung, and former employees of Land Revenue Office Dharma Prasad Gautam and Gopal Karki—were remanded to seven days in police custody on June 28.

On July 2, the police bureau arrested Baburaja Maharjan, Ghaman Kumar Karki and Shivaji Bhattarai in connection with the land scam while two more accused—Ramesh Kumar Pokharel, the former head of Samarjung Company, and Dev Narayan Maharjan—were caught on July 3.

Lalita Niwas covers some 300 ropanis [around 15 hectares] of land adjoining the prime minister’s residence, Nepal Rastra Bank central office and some other top government official residences.