The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security, located within the Singha Durbar, last week requested the Ministry of Home Affairs and other agencies to locate a missing government vehicle with the registration number Province 3-01-002 Jha 5367.
The ministry, citing the vehicle’s disappearance for some time, made a secretarial-level decision on June 29 to request the Home Ministry, Nepal Police Headquarters, and Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office to locate the vehicle and take legal action against those responsible.
A letter sent to the Home Ministry stated: “As the vehicle (a Mahindra Scorpio) owned by this ministry has been missing for some time, in accordance with the government’s secretarial-level decision dated June 29, we request you to locate the vehicle wherever and in whatever condition it may be, and to register a case and proceed with an investigation against those involved in the act, as per the prevailing law.”
The letter, issued by the ministry’s secretary, Krishna Hari Pushkar, did not specify when the vehicle went missing.
The request reached the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office via email through the Home Ministry and Police Headquarters. However, before the traffic police could begin their search, they received an email stating the vehicle had already been found.
"We received an email from the Labor Ministry, via the Home Ministry and Police Headquarters, requesting a search for a missing government vehicle. But the letter did not mention the date when it went missing,” said Superintendent of Police Deepak Giri, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office. “We hadn’t even started the search when we received an email saying the vehicle had been found. We didn’t need to do anything.”
SP Giri said that they had no information on where the vehicle was found. However, the office received information through an email that the vehicle was found on June 30, he added.
The missing vehicle sparked discussions, with media reports covering the issue. On July 2, Labor Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari told Gorkhapatra that “the vehicle said to be missing was at the house of the ministry’s secretary’s and has already been recovered.”
However, the ministry’s Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar had formally requested the Home Ministry, Police Headquarters, and Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office to locate the vehicle.
Where was the vehicle?
The Ministry of Labor has not officially disclosed where the vehicle was, who used it, or from where it was brought back to the ministry. Ministry employees are also reluctant to discuss the matter formally.
According to one employee, the vehicle was used by Mahantha Thakur, chairman of the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party. The employee claimed that Minister Bhandari had sent the vehicle to his party chairman, Thakur, without informing the ministry.
Thakur’s aide reportedly returned the vehicle to the ministry.
Satyendra Mishra, Thakur’s personal secretary, said that Thakur used the ministry’s vehicle for only a few days.
“The ministry’s vehicle was used for a few days when the chairman’s vehicle broke down, and has already been returned,” he said.
