CPN-UML Secretary and former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi is now in the wanted list of police after failing to turn himself in to the police following issue of arrest warrant in his name.
“He was to voluntarily come to the police. But he didn’t come until Thursday evening,” a Nepal Police source told Setopati. “He is now in the wanted list after going out of contact following issue of arrest warrant despite being a lawmaker.”
Rayamajhi had gone to Butwal Wednesday evening after attending a program at his home district Arghakhanchi and telling journalists that he would cooperate in investigations. He had reached Butwal together with Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire after attending the same program in Arghakhanchi. He had even booked a hotel room in Butwal to stay over the night but booked a flight to Kathmandu from Bhirahawa cancelling his hotel booking after issue of the arrest warrant.
He later cancelled the flight ticket and went out of contact, according to Rupandehi Police.
Son of UML Vice-chairman and former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Prateek Thapa, has also yet to be arrested despite issue of arrest warrant on Wednesday. The police are also looking for Prateek.
UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli on Thursday met PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the Singha Durbar on Thursday to draw the latter’s attention toward the issue.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Oli claimed how a check issued in the name of UML Secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi’s son four years ago was still with the person issuing the check and hinted at conspiracy to implicate Rayamajhi. “The situation to suddenly conspiratorially arrest sitting lawmaker Rayamajhi who became minister multiple times while walking on the street now on the basis of that is mysterious,” he stated.
Rayamajhi’s son Sandeep was arrested from Butwal on Wednesday in connection to the scam and has been brought to Kathmandu on Thursday.
Other people arrested over involvement in the scam had taken the names of Rayamajhi and his son in their statements.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Kathmandu District Court had issued an arrest warrant for Rayamajhi and his son Sandeep for investigation of the scam that swindled tens of millions from Nepali citizens with the promise of sending them to America as Bhutanese refugees, according to a Nepal Police source.
Rayamajhi is currently House of Representatives (HoR) member from Arghakhanchi.
Former home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey has also been arrested in the scam. Pandey was arrested after he reached the Kathmandu Police on Wednesday after being summoned.
Pandey was home secretary from August 11, 2021, to September 18, 2022. He is currently secretary at the Office of the Vice-president, but he has been suspended following his arrest.
Advisor to the then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Indrajit Rai, was arrested on Tuesday over involvement in the scam. An arrest warrant has also been issued against Rai’s son Niraj Rai in the case but he has yet to be arrested.
Rai, who was advisor to the then home minister Thapa in 2017, was arrested from Sunakothi, Lalitpur, on Tuesday morning.
Investigations have showed that Rai had connived with one Keshav Dulal and others to collect tens of millions of rupees from several people promising to send them to America as Bhutanese refugees when Thapa was home minister.
“We will include facts about his involvement in the file. It is not the time to reveal that,” Chief of Kathmandu Police Range SSP Dan Bahadur Karki told Setopati. “We have arrested him and moved the investigations forward as he had to be arrested now.”
Rai had facilitated with the Home Ministry to create fake Bhutanese refugees, according to a police officer involved in the investigations, and was arrested after the police collected evidence establishing his involvement.
Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhattarai, Tanka Kumar Gurung, Sandesh Sharma and Sagar Rai have already been arrested in the case.
Dulal would deploy Sagar Rai and others to collect details and money from the victims, and also coordinate with Thapa’s advisor Rai at the Home Ministry, the investigations have showed. Indrajit Rai has been arrested after the others arrested in the case took his name in their statement.
“We have been told that Rai also took money. We will also look at his bank accounts,” the officer added.
Rai allegedly took more than Rs 50 million in the scam. “He seems to have done all the necessary things inside the Home Ministry. He seems to have played a major role in arranging things inside the ministry.”
Another police source stated that Rai played a role when he was advisor to Thapa while others also played a role after that.
The Home Ministry had formed a task force under the then Joint Secretary Bal Krishna Panthi in 2018 to identify previously unrecorded Bhutanese refugees. The task force had submitted its report to the Home Ministry but it was not made public leading to suspicion that fake refugees were included in that report itself.
Kathmandu Police acquired that report from the Home Ministry in April for investigation. A source claimed that over 800 fake refugees were included in that report. Genuine refugees were included only in four schedules of the report while the remaining names were added later, according to the source.
The police are also planning to arrest others who facilitated the scam after Indrajit Rai.
The Kathmandu Valley Crime Division had first received a complaint accusing Keshav Dulal and others of fraud by creating fake Bhutanese refugees. Police arrested Dulal and sent the file to Kathmandu Police for further investigation.
Police are investigating them under Fraud and Organized Crime.
