The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority on Thursday filed corruption cases in the Special Court against 93 individuals including former prime minister and CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Kumar Nepal, as well as four former ministers. The commission has sought 13 years of imprisonment and Rs185.5 million in damages from them in connection with the Pantanjali land scam.

The charges pertain to Patanjali Yogpeeth and Ayurveda Company Nepal purchasing land beyond the legal ceiling in Nasikasthan Sanga, Mahendrajyoti of Kavrepalanchok district for company operations. The company is then alleged to have illegally sold the land at higher prices. Former prime minister Nepal, who is an elected member of the House of Representatives, has been automatically suspended following the filing of the corruption case.

As per the chargesheet, Nepal, by directly presenting a proposal in his Cabinet, played a role in authorising the sale and exchange of the land purchased by Pantanjali, which under the Land Act should have been confiscated and maintained as government or public property. He also put pressure on officials to prepare documents to allow illegal sales of the land beyond the legal ceiling, according to the constitutional anti-graft body.

However, Nepal denies wrongdoing and insists he is clean. He also claimed that the case was lodged on the instruction of Prime Minister and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli. “His [Oli’s] intention has always been to end my political career. He had tried similar tactics in the past,” said Nepal, talking to the journalists in Rautahat, his home district.

The charge sheet also names then minister and coordinator of the Legislative Committee of the Cabinet Prem Bahadur Singh. Other prominent accused include then Minister of Land Reform and Management late Dambar Shrestha and his son Santosh Shrestha; then Chief Secretary late Madhav Prasad Ghimire, who went on to become a minister later, and his wife Kamala Ghimire; then Secretary of the Ministry of Land Reform and Management Chhabiraj Pant, who also later became a minister; and then joint-secretaries Jit Bahadur Thapa and Lalmani Joshi. Under-secretaries Kalanidhi Poudel, Gandhi Prasad Subedi, and Hupendra Mani KC too have been named in the chargesheet.

Shaligram Singh, a founding member and key operator of Patanjali Yogpeeth and Ayurveda Company, is the prime accused in the corruption case. He is a former vice-chair of the Nepal Engineering Council appointed under the Nepali Congress quota. Prem Bahadur Desar, then revenue officer at the Land Revenue Office in Kavrepalanchok, and Baikuntha Prasad Regmi, then head of Guthi Corporation in the district, too have been chargesheeted by the constitutional commission.

The chargesheet demands confiscation of a total land area measuring 85.03 ropani (a ropani is 0.0509 hectares), purchased by the defendant Patanjali Yogpeeth and Ayurveda Company Nepal from co-defendant Chautarama Pvt Ltd, and the declaration of the said land as government or public property in accordance with the Prevention of Corruption Act and CIAA Act.

On February 1, 2010, the Cabinet approved the purchase of 815 ropani of land in the district under a land ceiling exemption for operating an Ayurvedic university, research centre, yoga hall, Ayurvedic medicine factory, herbal farm, and a cow farm.

Soon after, Patanjali purchased over 593 ropani of land in the then Sanga, Nasikathan, and Mahendra Jyoti Village Development Committees—now under Banepa Municipality in Kavrepalanchok. On March 16, of the same year, citing “Prime Minister Nepal’s instruction,” then minister Shrestha had taken a proposal to the Cabinet allowing Patanjali to sell the land obtained through the ceiling exemption. The Cabinet approved the decision the same day.

As per the ceilings fixed by Land Act 1964, a landowner can possess 10 bigha (a bigha is 0.677 hectares) of land in Tarai region; 25 ropani in Kathmandu Valley, and 70 ropani in the hills and mountains except for Kathmandu Valley.

The Act allows for the ownership of an additional bigha in the Tarai region and 5 ropani in hills including Kathmandu Valley for residential use.

On June 25, Patanjali sold 353 ropani and 15 ana of the land, to Kasthamandap Business Homes Pvt Ltd, as per the Cabinet decision, in a clear violation of land-related laws.

When Patanjali sold the land in Banepa, the recorded price was Rs42.25 million. Government records show that Patanjali later bought 104 ropani, 1 ana, 2 paisa, and 1 dam (5.3 hectares) of land in Dhulikhel for Rs10.75 million. However, an official from the CIAA alleges that the actual transactions exceeded Rs400 million, with the declared amounts deliberately reduced to evade taxes.

The Madhav Nepal-led Cabinet had also approved the purchase of land under ceiling exemption—75 bigha in Dang, 300 ropani in Lamjung, 250 ropani in Syangja, 15 bigha in Chitwan, 25 bigha in Dhanusha, 150 ropani in the Kathmandu Valley, and 40 bigha in the Bara-Parsa area—within five years.

Patanjali Yogpeeth Nepal, a non-profit registered in January 2008, has Ramdev, Balkrishna, Shaligram, Rajendra Singh, and Umesh Sarraf as proprietors.

Nepal, who was a senior leader of the CPN-UML at the time, was prime minister from May 25, 2009 to February 5, 2011. He later quit the party and formed the CPN (Unified Socialist) in 2021.