The Kathmandu District Court has ordered medical entrepreneur Durga Prasai to be released on bail.
According to Melis Baskota, the court’s information officer, a bench of Judge Thakur Prasad Kharel on Tuesday ordered Prasai to be released after posting a bail bond of Rs 50,000 each in two separate cases.
Prasai is in the process of making the bail payment.
Two separate complaints had been filed against Prasai under the Electronic Transactions Act.
The Kathmandu District Court had issued an arrest warrant against Prasai, Jeevan Pandey and Prakash Chandra Dahal on September 18.
A team from the Cyber Bureau arrested Prasai from his residence in Bhaktpur on September 22. Later the same day, the Kathmandu District Court remanded him to custody for three days according to Section 47 of the Electronic Transactions Act.
On September 23, Prasai’s son Nirajan had filed a habeas corpus petition at the apex court seeking his release. Nirajan had named the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police as defendants in the petition.
Responding to the petition on September 24, Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut’s bench refused to release Prasai. The court issued a show cause notice ordering the defendants to submit a written response within 15 days.
On September 25, the Kathmandu District Court extended Prasai’s custody by five days.
Prasai has been involved in many controversies and in the past has campaigned for non-payment of bank loans. He has also made disparaging remarks against students studying medicine in Bangladesh in the past and has levied outrageous allegations against leaders from many political parties.
Prasai’s bodyguards Deepak Khadka and Ram Kumar Dhimal were arrested from the Supreme Court premises in March when they were entering the court for a hearing related to Prasai. Along with the gun, police also recovered two small magazines, two big magazines, one magazine holder, and 100 rounds of bullet inside a black bag from the two.
They were later charged under the Arms and Ammunition Act.
