Statement of CPN-UML House of Representatives (HoR) member Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, who was arrested in connection to the fake Bhutanese refugees scam, has been recorded.
Recording Rayamajhi’s statement was completed by Monday night, according to Chief of the District Government Attorney Office, Kathmandu Achyut Mani Neupane. “We took his statement starting from four in the afternoon till 9:30 in the night,” Neupane told Setopati.
Recording statement of Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand was also started earlier Monday but it could not be completed due to Khand’s health. Khand will give his statement even on Tuesday. Statements of all other accused in the scam have already been recorded.
The Kathmandu District Court on Monday remanded Rayamajhi to police custody for three days.
Rayamajhi and 12 other accused including Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand—whose custody was extended Sunday by four days starting Saturday—will have to be produced before the court again on Wednesday.
Rayamajhi was arrested by a special team from the Nepal Police Headquarters.
Rayamajhi had been absconding after the Kathmandu District Court issued an arrest warrant for him and his son Sandeep on May 3 over their alleged involvement in the scam. Sandeep was arrested from Butwal the same day. Other people arrested in the case had implicated the two in their statements to the police.
Rayamajhi was attending an event in Arghakhanchi when the arrest warrant was issued for him.
He had said that he would return to Kathmandu and help the police with their investigation. He had also said that he would contact the police and present himself in person at the District Police Range, Kathmandu, but he had been on the run since then.
The District Police Range, Kathmandu, had issued a circular across the country for his arrest.
A team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) had also been deployed to search for him as police suspected he may have fled to Lucknow, India.
UML suspended Rayamajhi as party secretary on May 10, a week after the arrest warrant was issued for him.
Police had earlier arrested 12 people in connection with the scam that swindled tens of millions from Nepalis with the promise of sending them to America as Bhutanese refugees.
Those arrested are Rayamajhi's son Sandeep, Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Tek Narayan Pandey, Indrajit Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Sagar Rai, Tanka Kumar Gurung, Ram Sharan KC, Govinda Chaudhary, Nepali Congress leader and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand, and Khand's personal secretary Narendra KC.
Ram Sharan KC and Govinda Chaudhary were arrested on Tuesday while Khand and his personal secretary were arrested from Khand's residence in Kathmandu on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa's son Prateek and Indrajit Rai's son Niraj are still on the run.
