SC releases Secretary Raut, revokes habeas corpus petition filed by 4 in Baluwatar land grab case

Setopati

Kathmandu, July 21

The Supreme Court (SC) has annulled habeas corpus petition filed by four persons arrested in connection with the Baluwatar land grab scam.

But the SC has issued a mandamus ordering that Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology Krishna Bahadur Raut be released on date.

Raut, promoter of Bhatbhateni Supermarket Min Bahadur Gurung, former election commissioner Sudheer Kumar Shah and former government employee at Dilli Bazaar Land Revenue Office Dharma Prasad Gautam had filed the habeas corpus petition.

A joint bench of Justices Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Nahakul Subedi on Friday has annulled all the four petitions pointing that they were arrested on the basis of warrant issued by the court but has ordered Secretary Raut be released on date pointing lack of reasons to keep him in custody, according to SC Spokesperson Bimal Paudel.

The bench has cited the decision by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority on February 5, 2020, to not investigate Raut and pointed that not keeping him in custody would not weaken investigation in the case.