Police on Wednesday arrested a man, a member of a criminal group, duping people on the pretext of sending them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

Sandesh Sharma, 34, a local of the Dang district, was arrested by a team of Kathmandu Valley Crime Division personnel from Kathmandu.

Sharma, who was on the run for the last 10 months, following an investigation into the criminal group, was arrested from Kathmandu. The crime division had obtained an arrest warrant from the Kathmandu District Court against the absconding individuals.

The leader of the criminal group, Keshav Dulal, and his associates, Sanu Bhandari and Tek Gurung, were arrested on March 26 by the Crime Division.

A fourth member, Sagar Rai of Pathari, was arrested on March 29 from Balkumari in Lalitpur.

According to Kathmandu Valley Crime Division head Senior Superintendent of Police Manoj KC, Sharma has been booked and an investigation is underway.

While on the run, Sharma had been hiding in different places. He was recently in Haryana, India, KC added.

On June 14, 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police had launched an investigation into a criminal group, involved in monetary fraud. The group had allegedly been scamming people, for the past five years, by promising to fly them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

The victims had filed a case against the group at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority towards the end of 2021. However, the case was only brought to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Division in June 2022.

The group has allegedly swindled over Rs10 million from around 1,000 people from different places in Nepal.

Fake refugee IDs, fake recommendation letters, and bank transaction bills were confiscated from the trio arrested on March 26.

Indrajit Rai, security advisor to former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, and his son, Niraj Rai, have also been accused of being a part of the group.