Police are preparing to submit their investigation report on the fake Bhutanese refugees scam to the District Government Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu, with the suggestion to file a case under three offenses.
Superintendent of Police Sitaram Rijal at the District Police Range, Kathmandu, said that they are preparing to submit the report on Monday morning.
Police have suggested in the report that the accused be tried for fraud, organized crime and offense against the state.
Concluding that the scam has tarnished the country’s image, police have suggested trying the accused for offense against the state. According to a source, police have also included some grounds that attract the offense in the file.
Police have mentioned in their report that the case has generated international concern and also brought disrepute to the country abroad. They have included in the file nine news reports about the case that were published abroad.
Police have stated the ploy to make Nepalis non-citizens as another offense. Investigations have shown that tens of millions of rupees were collected to blatantly send Nepalis abroad as non-citizens.
Police have also concluded that senior politicians, the Home Ministry leadership and others had betrayed the country and tarnished its image by being involved in the case.
Based on the complaints filed by several victims of the scam, police have also suggested claiming Rs 260 million from the accused. Nearly 125 people have filed complaints so far claiming that they were swindled of more than Rs 260 million on the pretext of sending them abroad as Bhutanese refugees. Five victims filed a complaint on Sunday alone.
Police carried out investigations into the scam for two months. They have arrested 16 people in the case so far and have named more than 12 others as absconding defendants in the report.
A complaint regarding the scam was filed at the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office on June 1, 2022. The Kathmandu District Court issued a warrant for Keshav Dulal and Tanka Kumar Gurung on June 14. But investigation into the scam did not move ahead.
Dulal, Gurung and Sanu Bhandari were arrested on March 26 of this year following investigation. Police arrested several other people in connection with the scam after that.
Police have named Dulal and Bhandari as the main accused in the scam. Dulal is from Pathari of Morang, while Bhandari is from Itahari of Sunsari but had been living in Imadol of Lalitpur lately. The two are old acquaintances.
Dulal was also appointed personal assistant of then deputy prime minister and foreign minister Sujata Koirala in 2009.
Police suspect Bhandari and Dulal could have sent at least 13,000 Nepalis abroad in collusion during the resettlement program. According to a source, they made a lot of money during that time too.
Bhandari is found to have held talks with CPN-UML lawmaker Top Bahadur Rayamajhi after that. Police said they are also old acquaintances.
Rayamajhi told Bhandari that they needed to do some work and make money as he was the deputy prime minister and energy minister and also had considerable influence in the Cabinet. They then discussed what could be done, the source said.
During the discussion, Bhandari suggested that they could use Tek Nath Rizal, the exiled pro-democracy Bhutanese refugee leader who had spent 10 years in prison in Bhutan. Rizal has also been arrested in the case.
Bhandari, Dulal and Rayamajhi decided that they could use Rizal’s help in the scam. The Nepal government had been providing a monthly allowance, a vehicle and a driver to Rizal, but it had been two years since the government had stopped providing those facilities to him.
Rayamajhi then called Rizal to the ministry and promised to lobby for providing Rizal with the facilities again if he helped them. Rizal accepted the offer.
“Then he was given a vehicle and Rs 100,000 per month,” the source said. “They also took photos in the ministry.”
Rizal is found to have made refugee identity cards for several people who wanted to become fake refugees after Bhandari and Dulal talked him into it. Police said he took money for providing the identity cards too.
According to the source, the identity cards were collected again and burned following rumors that those with fake refugee identity cards could be arrested. But police have found photos of those identity cards taken by the people before they were burned.
Police said they have also recovered 20-40 fake identity cards. Many middlemen are found to have been used in the intervening period, with Sandesh Sharma, Sagar Rai and others playing a key role.
Then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa had appointed Indrajit Rai as his security advisor. Rai and Thapa had good relations as Thapa had taken shelter at Rai’s house in Bhojpur sometime during the Maoist insurgency.
Bhandari and others approached Rai as they had to get their work done through the Home Ministry.
As suggested by Rayamajhi and other members of the racket, Rai then proposed forming a task force. Investigation shows that a task force was formed accordingly. Police claim that the racket also gave money to Thapa’s son as Thapa also had knowledge of the plan.
The Home Ministry formed a task force under the then Joint Secretary Bal Krishna Panthi through a minister-level decision on June 13, 2019 to study the state of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and provide recommendation/consultation for third-country resettlement. Current CPN-UML Vice-chairman Ram Bahadur Thapa was the home minister while current Chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Prem Bahadur Rai was the home secretary.
Investigation has shown that the task force was formed on the initiation of that racket and fake refugees were included in its report. Chairman of the then Mahankal Rural Municipality in Lalitpur Ganesh KC, with no known expertise about refugee affairs, was included in that task force as an expert on the racket's recommendation.
Deepak Neupane was another member of the task force but he was transferred before the task force completed its work. The police source claims that Indrajit Rai had a role in inclusion of KC in the task force and transfer of Neupane.
Sanu Bhandari and Keshav Dulal have been found to have met Indrajit Rai and handed over Rs 16 million at Angan Restaurant in Thapathali. They had not collected money from the victims until then and had given their own money as investment.
Indrajit Rai also seems to have played a role in the transfer of staffers. Investigations have shown that Dulal texted Indrajit Rai for transfer of a staffer at the Refugees Coordination Unit (RCU), and the transfer was duly made two days later. Police have found evidence of Indrajit Rai sending the transfer letter to Dulal.
The source claims that Indrajit Rai in this way had repeatedly received money for doing the racket’s work.
Those with the identity cards distributed by Tek Nath Rizal had also applied for inclusion in the report.
But the Panthi-led task force submitted its report on October 18, 2019, with names of genuine refugees, according to the police. It mentioned that a list of 429 unregistered refugees was acquired from the record of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the RCU.
The report stated that it would be best for the government to take diplomatic initiatives with the countries concerned to resettle them as earlier.
Sanu Bhandari had confronted Indrajit Rai after the report included names of genuine refugees despite Rai taking money. The report was then sent to the Cabinet for endorsement but the then Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai stopped the report, according to the police. Prem Kumar Rai is also being investigated now.
Indrajit Rai then sent the report to the social committee stating work was being done. Prem Kumar Rai retired on February 3, 2020, and the KP Sharma Oli government appointed him as the chief of the CIAA.
Maheshwore Neupane then succeeded Prem Kumar Rai. Neupane is also under suspicion but the police have yet to find any evidence against him.
The government changed after that and NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba was appointed PM on July 13, 2021. Deuba appointed his confidant Bal Krishna Khand as the home minister.
The racket again became active after that and one Bechen Jha seems to have mediated in that. But the police have yet to reveal the role of Jha.
Khand chose Tek Narayan Pandey as home secretary after Pandey retired. Khand’s personal secretary Narendra KC was also involved in it. Principal of Sharada Secondary School in Chitwan, KC became Khand’s secretary on deputation.
Khand then formed a different committee for the issue under the assistant chief district officer of Jhapa. He also summoned UNHCR representatives for discussion. The report sent to the Cabinet was also passed.
Khand and Pandey then connived to prepare another report and added names of 875 persons. “They seem to have collected money by showing that report with added names,” the source added.
Khand, KC and Pandey then took money from the racket. The police have already gathered evidence of chats among Khand, KC and Pandey from mobile phones.
The victims were assured that their work was taken up by the home minister. Biometrics and interview of the victims were done using the vehicle of Shamsher Miya, president of Nepal Hajj Committee under the Home Ministry .
The victims were tired of lack of progress despite paying money. The police initiated investigation of the scam after victims Gajendra Budhathoki and Ram Kumar Regmi lodged a complaint on June 1, 2022, on behalf of 77 victims.
Khand came to know about the arrest warrant for Dulal and others after that. Khand seems to have taken help of former NC lawmaker Ang Tawa Sherpa. Investigations have shown that Khand received Rs 12.50 million from the racket. Khand gave Rs 10 million to Sherpa through KC to return to the racket. But Sherpa kept Rs 7 million and gave only Rs 3 million to the elder brother of Sanu Bhandari. This has emerged as the strongest evidence against Khand.
The police have arrested 16 persons in the case until now with the arrest of exiled Bhutanese leader Tek Nath Rizal and President of Nepal Hajj Committee Shamsher Miya.
CPN-UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi was arrested on May 14. Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand and his personal assistant Narendra KC were arrested on May 10. Ram Sharan KC and Govinda Chaudhary, who have been accused of acting as middlemen in the scam, were arrested on May 9.
Police have also arrested former home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa’s security advisor Indrajit Rai, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi’s son Sandeep, Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Tanka Kumar Gurung and former NC lawmaker Ang Tawa Sherpa.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for Ram Bahadur Thapa’s son Prateek Thapa, Indrajit Rai’s son Niraj and others.
Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Tanka Gurung, Sandesh Sharma and Sagar Rai are the main accused in the case.
