Birgunj Metropolitan City Mayor Rajesh Man Singh has been arrested.
According to Superintendent of Police Sudeep Raj Pathak, chief of the District Police Office, Parsa, Singh was arrested on Tuesday morning from the Thori area.
An arrest warrant had been issued against him on May 22 for investigation into charges related to citizenship documentation.
DSP Raju Karki of the District Police Office, Parsa, confirmed that Singh was arrested for investigation into the matter.
Mayor Singh’s personal secretary, Satyaraj Ghimire, was also taken into custody on Monday for investigation in the same case.
After the arrest warrant was issues, Mayor Singh had visited the Parsa District Court on May 27. However, the legal proceedings could not take place as the court cited a busy schedule.
He said at the time that he returned from the court after receiving information from the administration.
The Parsa District Court had issued arrest warrants for Singh, Rita Bhattarai of Indrawati Rural Municipality, Sindhupalchowk, and Bhikhari Ray, then-local registrar of Ward No. 3 of Birgunj Metropolitan City, in connection with the document-related case.
Mayor Singh is accused of committing document-related fraud by falsely registering Rubina Shrestha, the daughter of Rita Bhattarai, as his own daughter and helping her obtain citizenship based on a fraudulent birth registration certificate. He is further accused of securing citizenship and passport documents for another person’s child and facilitating her travel abroad.
A case is currently ongoing at the Parsa District Court against Singh regarding these allegations, including document fraud and providing false information to obtain citizenship and passport. The arrest warrant was issued specifically regarding the citizenship document case.
In this case, the prosecution has sought a sentence of up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to 70,000 rupees for the crime of forging government or public documents, as per Section 276, sub-sections 1, 2, and 3(c) of the National Penal Code 2017.
Police are preparing to present him in court on Tuesday itself.
