The Patan High Court will continue hearing the petitions against the Kathmandu District Court’s order to send persons arrested over the fake Bhutanese refugees scam to judicial custody on Wednesday.
The joint bench of judges Janak Pandey and Prakash Kharel heard different petitions filed by 20 defendants against the Kathmandu District Court’s order together on Tuesday.
Lawyers of three defendants finished their pleadings on Tuesday and the bench decided to continue hearing in the petitions on Wednesday, according to Deputy Registrar at the Patan High Court Tirtha Raj Bhattarai.
The case was earlier heard only on Thursdays but the bench of judges Murari Babu Shrestha and Krishna Ram Koirala on November 9 ordered that it be heard even on other week days.
The District Government Attorney’s Office (DGAO), Kathmandu, has made 30 individuals defendants in the case. Twenty of them have already been arrested while 10 others are still at large. The DGAO had filed cases of fraud, organized crime, forgery and offense against the state against them on May 24 on the basis of the investigation report submitted by the police.
The Kathmandu District Court had ordered to send 17 of them to judicial custody and released three on bail.
The 20 defendants then moved the Patan High Court against the Kathmandu District Court’s order.
Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sandesh Gurung, Sagar Rai, Tek Narayan Pandey, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and his son Sandeep, Indrajit Rai, Bal Krishna Khand and his personal secretary Narendra KC, Ang Tawa Sherpa, Ram Sharan KC, Govinda Chaudhary, Shamsher Miya, Tek Nath Rizal and Hari Bhakta Maharjan among others are currently in judicial custody.
