The Patan High Court has sent younger brother of Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa to judicial custody.
A joint bench of Chief Justice of the court Nahakul Subedi and Justice Sriman Kumar Gautam revoking the earlier order of the Kathmandu District Court has sent Naresh Thapa to custody.
"The order of that court to seek bail amount from him instead of keeping him in custody like other defendants is revoked as it seems incongruous," the High Court in its order has stated. "Proceed the case by keeping him in custody as per clause 67 of the Criminal Code 2017."
The Kathmandu District Court on September 18, 2019 had released Naresh on bail of Rs 100,000 in the case of organized crime and criminal gains.
The police had arrested him for threatening contractors in connivance with jailed gangster Samir Man Singh Basnet. He was charged of making efforts for criminal gains after involvement in extorting contractors threatening them of 'any consequence' for not coughing up money.
The police had received complaints via the Home Ministry accusing Naresh of extorting 25 contractors. The CIB lodged case against the minister's brother after Pawan Khadka and Suren Nagarkoti arrested in August 2019 back by the CIB took his name.
Gangster Basnet is currently in the Central Jail for masterminding murder of Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal Sharad Gauchan at Shantinagar, Kathmandu on October 9, 2017. The police have accused Naresh of extorting contractors in connivance with Basnet.
