Home Minister Sudan Gurung on Wednesday pinned the rank insignia on newly appointed Inspector General of Police Manoj KC, departing from the convention of having the home secretary perform the ceremony.

The insignia had traditionally been conferred by the home secretary. This time, Gurung personally pinned it on KC.

Before his appointment as police chief, KC, an additional inspector general, headed the Crime Investigation Department at Police Headquarters. The government had appointed him to lead Nepal Police after removing incumbent IGP Dan Bahadur Karki.

On September 21, 2025, the government transferred KC from the Police Provincial Coordination Department to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB). He was subsequently moved to the Crime Investigation Department.

When Karki was appointed IGP, KC had been among the contenders for the top police post, alongside Additional Inspector General Rajan Adhikari and Siddhi Bikram Shah. Karki, Adhikari and KC joined the police service as inspectors in March 1998, making KC and Karki members of the same batch.

KC had earlier led the investigation into the fake Bhutanese refugee scam while heading the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office. The case had remained stalled for a long time before he revived a complaint and moved the investigation forward.

On March 26, 2023, his team arrested three suspects in the case: Keshav Dulal, Tank Gurung and Sanu Bhandari. They were allegedly members of a network that sent Nepali citizens to the United States by fraudulently presenting them as Bhutanese refugees. Their arrests paved the way for a wider investigation.

The investigation subsequently proceeded under organised crime charges, leading to the arrests of former home minister Bal Krishna Khand, former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and then home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, among others.

KC was a senior superintendent of police (SSP) at the time. A team under his command went to Khand’s residence to arrest the Nepali Congress leader.

The move angered the Congress leadership. As a result, KC did not receive key postings while the party remained in government.