A case has been filed at the Kathmandu District Court against 17 individuals, including the then chairperson Rita Singh, in the Bal Mandir land lease controversy.
However, former chairperson Singh has not been arrested, and it has been found that neither the police nor the district government attorney recorded her statement.
Former chairperson Singh is the elder sister of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development Prakash Man Singh. It is alleged that she was not arrested solely because she is the sister of Deputy Prime Minister Singh.
The District Government Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu, filed a case against 17 individuals, including 71-year-old Singh, at the Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday.
However, the report prepared by the District Government Attorney’s Office shows that former chairperson Singh’s statement was not recorded. Similarly, it shows that the statement of 68-year-old Yogendra Bahadur Shahi, the then vice-chairperson, was not taken either.
The police and government attorney are found to have recorded the statements of 15 others in connection with the Bal Mandir land case.
We asked district attorney Gokul Bahadur Niraula, spokesperson for the District Government Attorney’s Office, why the statements of the then chairperson and vice-chairperson of Bal Mandir were not recorded.
He said that Rita Singh’s statement was not taken because she could not be located.
"Her statement was not taken because she could not be found. As the deadline was expiring and she was untraceable, we filed the case without her statement," Niraula told Setopati.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had investigated irregularities in leasing Bal Mandir’s land. Complaints had been filed alleging that agreements at low rates were made repeatedly between 1992 and 2015 with the intent of inflicting financial losses on the Nepal Children's Organization (Bal Mandir).
Arrest warrants were issued for former office-bearers of the Nepal Children's Organization and others in connection with the land scam in April last year.
After obtaining arrest warrants for 20 individuals including Singh, the CIB arrested many former office-bearers of the organization. They were released on personal guarantee aexcept Rita Singh and Yogendrafter their statements were recorded.
The District Government Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu, initially decided not to file a case and forwarded its decision to the High Government Attorney’s Office and then to the Office of the Attorney General.
However, the Office of the Attorney General recently decided to proceed with the case and directed its registration.
Following the directive, the government attorney filed a case against 17 individuals.
When arrest warrants were issued for 20 people, three of them were found to have already passed away. It was decided to not prosecute Chirandhivi Tiwari, then chairperson of Brihaspati School Management Pvt Ltd; Manohar Gopal Shrestha, then treasurer of Nepal Children's Organization; and Suman Shakya, then deputy general secretary of the organization, as they had died.
The case was not even scheduled for a hearing at the Kathmandu District Court on Thursday, saying the remaining 17 individuals were all absconding.
Leaders of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have protested against the manner in which the case was registered without making arrests or recording statements.
In a Facebook post, RPP spokesperson Mohan Shrestha mentioned that the case was filed without arresting the elder sister of Deputy Prime Minister and Urban Development Minister Singh, while RPP Senior Vice-chairman Rabindra Mishra was arrested.
"RPP Senior Vice-chairman Rabindra Mishra, who contested the election against Deputy Prime Minister and Urban Development Minister Prakash Man Singh in Kathmandu-1, has been unlawfully detained by police for 43 days. On the other hand, a case has been filed against Singh’s sister Rita Singh Baidya at the Kathmandu District Court on the charge of irregularities in leasing the Bal Mandir land. But Baidya has not even been arrested," Shrestha said. "She is being treated as an absconding accused. So much so that, as she is the elder sister of Deputy Prime Minister Singh, the police did not even summon her to record her statement, let alone arrest her, even though the allegations against her are more serious."
He further claimed that this incident clearly shows the government’s vendetta against Mishra. He also demanded Mishra’s release.
"It is evident that Mishra is a victim of political vendetta by the state and the system. Politics of revenge benefits no one. If a strong government with integrity were to be formed and resort to such vendetta, which leaders of which parties after 1990 and 2006 would remain clean? Which leaders of which institutions would be safe?" he wrote. "Justice must be equal for all. You can’t suppress Mishra by arresting him—Rabindra Mishra must be released unconditionally."
SSP Hobindra Bogati of the CIB said that Rita Singh’s statement could not be taken due to her health condition. Police tried to record her statement at her home, but could not proceed as she was ill, he added.
"There was no ill intent from the police—her health was the primary reason. We also considered the humanitarian aspect," he said. "She is an Alzheimer’s and cancer patient and was bedridden. Even now, she is on bed rest. We visited her too. Her daughter had brought her. Due to her condition, she could not communicate properly, so after taking her medical reports and family’s request into account, we could not record her statement."
SSP Bogati said that Yogendra Bahadur Shahi’s statement was not taken because he could not be located, while all the others had their statements recorded.
"Except Rita Singh and Yogendra, everyone’s statements were taken. It’s not that only her statement won’t be taken," he said.
