The Kathmandu District Court has issued arrest warrants against 20 individuals including former office-bearers of Nepal Children’s Organization (NCO) in the Bal Mandir land lease scam.
Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati, spokesperson for the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police, said that the court has granted permission to arrest 20 people in connection with the case.
Along with the organization’s former office-bearers, arrest warrants have also been issued for members of business groups running commercial activities on the organization’s land at Naxal of Kathmandu.
According to a source, arrest warrants have been issued for NCO’s then chair Rita Singh, vice-chair Tulsi Narayan Shrestha, general secretary Ganesh Bhakta Shrestha, deputy general secretary Suman Shakya, Krishna Shankar Sah, Shyam Kumar Ale, Subash Kumar Pokharel, Manohar Gopal Shrestha, Prachanda Raj Pradhan, Ram Kaji Kone, Yogendra Bahadur Shahi and Deepak Das Shrestha.
Similarly, the court has issued arrest warrants for office-bearers of Brihaspati Vidyasadan. They include Chairman Chiranjeevi Tiwari, Prabin Raj Joshi, Murari Nidhi Tiwari, Shraddha Sanghai, Purushottam Raj Joshi, Abhinav Singhaniya, Keerti Prasad Pandey and Siddharth Kedia.
The CIB had begun investigation into the case some time ago.
On Thursday, a complaint was lodged with the CIB against individuals allegedly involved in the Nepal Children’s Organization land controversy.
The complaint alleged that the organization’s land was repeatedly leased for low prices between 1992 and 2015 with the intention of causing losses to the organization.
It also alleged that an agreement till 2032 was also renewed before its expiry with mala fide intent.
According to the latest agreement, nearly 29 ropanis of the organization’s land at Naxal was leased at a rate of Rs 10.9 million per year.
The Home Ministry has said that the land was leased to the Joshi family and Vaidya Group.
