A forgery case has been lodged against CPN-UML lawmaker and former DIG of Nepal Police Nava Raj Silwal.
Chief of the Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu SSP Rabindra Dhanuk confirmed with Setopati that Kathmandu Police has lodged a forgery case against Silwal at the Kathmandu District Court through the government attorney's office.
A full bench of the Supreme Court last week had concluded that the documents submitted to the Apex Court by Silwal in the case about promotion to IGP were forged and ordered for investigation against those involved in the forgery.
Senior police sources said police teams have been mobilized to arrest Silwal after lodging of the forgery case. The police do not need permission of the House speaker to arrest Silwal as he has yet to be administered oath of office. The source revealed that investigation will be moved forward by keeping Silwal in custody.
Background of the case
The then DIG Silwal, who was one of the four contenders for the top post of Nepal Police, was arrested by a police team on April 24 and taken to the Nepal Police headquarters at Naxal for interrogation while he was seeking legal advice from senior advocate Shambhu Thapa at the latter’s residence in Baluwatar Monday morning.
A single bench of Chief Justice Sushila Karki hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by advocate Purna Chandra Rajbanshi on behalf of DIG Silwal later on April 24 had ordered the Nepal Police to immediately release Silwal and produce him before the court that day itself. He was released on April 24 itself in accordance to the court order and was hospitalized at B&B Hospital after his blood pressure shot up.
The SC on April 25 had then ordered the government to not proceed the forgery investigation or any kind of action against DIG Nava Raj Silwal.
A joint bench of justices Jagadish Sharma Poudel, Ishwar Khatiwada and Tej Bahadur KC issuing an interim order had instructed the government to not proceed any action against Silwal until the writ petition filed by DIG Silwal against appointment of Prakash Aryal as IGP of Nepal Police sub judice at the SC was decided.
The SC on September 12 annulled that writ petition by Silwal. An extended full bench led by Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli and includeing Justice Om Prakash Mishra, Kedar Prasad Chalise, Sharada Prasad Ghimire, Mira Khadka, Prakash Man Singh Raut and Purushottam Bhandari had deemed appointment of Aryal as IGP of Nepal Police to be in accordance to the law.
The Cabinet had accused Silwal of forgery while submitting documents for performance evaluation and directed the headquarters to investigate that. He has been accused of putting his name on the performance evaluation documents of fellow contender Aryal, who was also a DIG then, and submitting that to the Supreme Court.
Silwal had moved the Apex Court, a day after Aryal's appointment, claiming that he is above three others, who were in contention for the top post, in terms of seniority and performance evaluation. He had also submitted comparison of performance evaluation of him and Aryal for the past four years in the petition.
The SC had refused to issue an Interim Order as demanded by Silwal.
The government on April 10 had appointed Aryal as IGP. The cabinet meeting filled the post that had remained vacant after the SC canceled promotion of Jai Bahadur Chand on March 21.
A full bench including Chief Justice Sushila Karki and justices Hari Krishna Karki, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Bhattarai had ordered the government to appoint another IGP from among qualified contenders.
It had directed the government to consider performance evaluation of the contenders for the past four fiscal years and appoint the one who has performed the best on an average during the period.
The government on February 12 had promoted the fourth-ranked contender among the quartet of DIGs—Silwal, Aryal, Chand, and Bhandari--all of whom were in contention for the top job due to the unflinching backing of Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba.
The single bench of Chief Justice Sushila Karki hearing a pre-emptive writ petition filed by advocate Kapil Dev Dhakal had ordered the government not to implement the cabinet’s decision just a few hours after Chand's appointment. She again issued the same instruction the following day hearing a petition filed by Silwal.
The government had made AIG Dr Dinesh Chandra Pokharel from technical service the acting chief of Nepal Police amending the Nepal Police Regulations while the case was sub judice. The amendment was made for one time appointment of AIG from technical service acting IGP.
