The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the authorities to release Krishna Bahadur Raut, secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, who was arrested in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab case.

Responding to a habeas corpus by Usha Karki Raut, wife of the secretary, a division bench of justices Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Nahakul Subedi maintained that there is no basis, reason and justification for keeping Raut in custody.

The apex court issued a mandamus order to investigate the case by releasing him on a general date but barred him from leaving the country without approval from a court until an investigation process is completed.

On July 14, the Supreme Court had ordered the authorities to present Raut before the court within 24 hours.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police on July 9 arrested Raut for his alleged involvement in transferring the ownership of government land at Lalita Niwas in the name of individuals.

The Supreme Court, however, refused to order for the release of three other accused– former election commissioner Sudhir Kumar Shah, former employees of Land Revenue Office Dharma Prasad Gautam and Bhatbhateni Supermarket owner Min Bahadur Gurung— and quashed the habeas corpus petition.

The bench said their detention can’t be termed unlawful as due process was followed from issuing arrest warrants to seeking judicial remand against them.

The petitioners had moved the apex court, arguing their detention is unlawful as the statute of limitations on the case has already expired.

Meanwhile, the bench also quashed a writ petition by 17 accused including the then joint secretary duo Kaladhar Deuja and Tika Ram Ghimire. The bench vacated an earlier interim order issued by a single bench of Justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada last year.

The verdict has paved the way for the Central Investigation Bureau to arrest them. 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.