The Patan High Court has granted bail to Nepali Congress (NC) central member and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand in the fake Bhutanese refugees scam on Thursday.
The bench of Judge Krishna Ram Koirala has ordered release of Khand on a bail of Rs 3 million, according to Deputy Registrar and Spokesperson of Patan High Court Tirtha Raj Bhattarai.
Khand, who is at the Central Jail, is unlikely to be released Thursday though. Assistant Jailer Mitra Lal Luitel told Setopati that the process to get released on bail takes time including the jail writing to the Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI) and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) after the bail amount is received. Luitel added that Khand could be released only once the DMLI and the CIAA also complete their respective processes.
The joint bench of judges Janak Pandey and Prakash Kharel on December 1 had differed on whether to release Khand on bail or not.
While Pandey had opined that Khand be released on a bail of Rs 3 million Kharel stated that he should be kept in custody.
The joint bench hearing different petitions filed by 20 defendants against the Kathmandu District Court’s order to send them to judicial custody had ordered release of exiled pro-democracy Bhutanese leader Tek Nath Rizal on a bail of Rs 1.50 million. Rizal is still in jail unable to pay the bail amount.
The bench, however, had ordered that CPN-UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi be kept in judicial custody along with former secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, Sanu Bhandari and Keshav Dulal.
Similarly, Khand’s personal secretary Narendra KC and president of Nepal Hajj Committee Shamsher Miya had been ordered to be released on a bail of Rs 1 million each, Rayamajhi’s son Sandeep on Rs 3 million and Ram Sharan KC on Rs 1.50 million.
The bench had also released Laxmi Maharjan and Ashish Budathoki on date. The Kathmandu District Court had earlier ordered her release on a bail of Rs 500,000.
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.
