The main opposition CPN-UML is demanding the formation of a high-level committee to investigate the latest large-scale smuggling of gold through the Tribhuvan International Airport.

The party has been obstructing the House of Representatives, demanding that a high-level committee be formed to investigate the scam. It has also been calling for the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

On July 18, smugglers had got past the customs and police with more than a quintal of gold at the Tribhuvan International Airport. The consignment was later seized by the Department of Revenue Investigation. The DRI, which has been investigating the matter, has so far arrested 18 people in connection with the smuggled gold.

High-level committees were formed even in the past to probe major crimes, but experts say the outcomes have been a mixed bag.

Such a committee or commission could intervene in the police investigation, they said, adding that there should be a clear demarcation line on the jurisdiction of such committees and the police.

Former Deputy Inspector General of Police Ramesh Kharel said that a high-powered committee of experts and honest people could help the police investigation.

“But if the committee doesn’t have honest and professional people, the police investigation could be derailed as well,” said Kharel, who has now entered politics, having fought the last general elections and the by-election.

In a not too distant past, high-level committees were formed to investigate the rape and murder of Nirmala Pant and the 33kg gold smuggling case. In July 2018, Nirmala, a 13-year girl from Kanchanpur, was raped and murdered. In January 2018, 33kg gold had allegedly been smuggled through the TIA.

Amid intense public pressure after Pant’s rape and murder, the government had formed a high-level panel led by the then joint-secretary of the Home Ministry Hari Prasad Mainali, to discover the truth about the gruesome rape-and-murder that had rocked the country.

The probe panel charged the police with “grave negligence and carelessness” while collecting evidence against the murderer.

Its report also accused the then Kanchanpur Police Chief SP Dilli Raj Bista of failing to deploy security personnel in required numbers for search and security arrangements.

Later, another high-level probe committee formed under the then Additional Inspector General Dhiru Basnyat implicated duty officers for not following standard procedure, including employing police dogs.

The government later fired Bista and suspended the then Deputy Superintendent of Police Angur Joshi, both of whom were involved in the initial investigation of the case. Later on, eight police personnel, including Bista and Joshi, were charged with tampering with the evidence in the Nirmala Pant case. But in July 2020, the District Court Kanchanpur gave a clean chit to all of them.

Former DIG Hemanta Malla Thakuri said the high-level committee’s findings could not hold water in the court. “In the Nirmala Pant case, the high level committee entered the jurisdiction of the police, directing them to do what the committee wanted, leading to the derailment of the investigation,” said Malla. “So if any committee is formed [to investigate the recent gold haul], it should steer clear of the jurisdiction of the police.”

In the case of 33kg gold smuggling case, Morang District Court convicted none of the suspects, including the main accused Chudamani Upreti alias Gore, and several police officers.

The issue of 33 kilograms of gold smuggled through the TIA on January 23, 2018 had come to light after the body of one Sanam Shakya of Urlabari, Morang was recovered. Gore and his gang were accused of torturing and murdering him for stealing the smuggled gold.

The government had formed a probe committee under the then joint secretary at the Home Ministry Ishwor Raj Paudel, to investigate the matter.

The committee had concluded that the gang led by Gore smuggled 3,799.559 kilograms of gold in the five years till 2018 after studying his recovered diary and documents seized from other accused.

But the gold, which was supposed to have been smuggled, was never recovered. The Morang District Court in October 2021 gave life sentences to Gore and seven other people for murdering Shakya, but they were not convicted in gold smuggling. All the police officers accused of helping the gold smugglers were acquitted.

“In the case of 33kg gold scam, the high-level committee formed to probe the incident included people with no professional experience in investigation,” said former DIG Kharel.

Former police officers said that such a probe committee, if formed, should have a mandate of finding the loopholes in government institutions and personnel instead of starting a criminal investigation. “Our politicians have a tendency to form such committees to divert attention and dilute real investigation when they are faced with questions,” said Malla.

High-level committees have often helped police investigation though. For example, the report of a probe committee headed by former government secretary Sharada Prasad Trital on the illegal transfer of government’s lands at Lalita Niwas, Baluwatar became an important document to initiate investigation by police and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

The CIAA had filed cases against 175 individuals at the Special Court in February 2020 over the illegal transfer of government lands at Baluwatar in Kathmandu in the names of private individuals. Now the Central Investigation Bureau of Police is investigating the accused in the scam for forgery of government documents.

“The investigation report prepared by the Trital-led committee helped these investigations,” Kharel said. “A report from such a competent committee might help further investigation [in the latest gold-smuggling case as well].”