Former home minister and Nepali Congress (NC) leader Bal Krishna Khand and his personal assistant Narendra KC have denied involvement in the fake Bhutanese refugees scam.
In the statement recorded with the District Government Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu—that Setopati has acquired—Khand has also claimed that he does not know how his mobile phone that the police seized from him was formatted.
“I am not involved in the allegations of taking money by promising to send Nepalis to a third country making them Bhutanese refugees. I don’t know how my mobile got to factory reset. I have worked to maintain image of Nepal high when I was home minister and minister,” Khand has said in the statement.
His personal assistant KC has also denied involvement. KC has stated that he has repeatedly talked with former NC lawmaker Ang Tawa Sherpa but does not remember about that.
The police claim that Khand has been found to have returned Rs 10 million out of the bribe he took from the racket that planned the fake Bhutanese refugees scam after the scam came to the fore.
Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari and Tanka Kumar Gurung—who were arrested on March 26—started to take names of politicians and bureaucrats who connived in the scam while giving statements. The police arrested eight persons who were accused by the trio while the name of Khand was removed from the statements.
Khand then started to work to return the bribe he took to ensure that they would not take his name even in the future. He returned back Rs 10 million through his personal assistant Narendra KC a few days after that.
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.
