Police brought Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari, the main accused in the embezzlement of savings from Miteri Savings and Credit Cooperative, to Kathmandu on Wednesday night. He had been on the run after allegedly misappropriating funds from the cooperative.
A team mobilized by the Interpol Section of Nepal Police arrested him in Cambodia and brought him to Kathmandu.
Upon arrival, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police took him into custody for further investigation.
According to Superintendent of Police Yuvaraj Khadka, spokesperson for the CIB, Bhandari is accused of embezzling over Rs 140 million from the cooperative.
So far, 144 victims have contacted the police.
SP Khadka said that Bhandari, a 42-year-old resident of Bansgadhi, Bardiya, embezzled over Rs 110 million from the cooperative alone.
Police have long been investigating the Miteri Cooperative fraud case involving Bhandari.
After finding that Bhandari had a key role in the Miteri Cooperative fraud, police had issued a Red Notice through Interpol.
The notice against him was issued by Interpol on October 29 last year.
After the notice was issued, Bhandari’s location in Cambodia was traced.
Police were already aware that he was in Cambodia, where he was detained by Cambodian police.
The reason for Bhandari’s detention in Cambodia remains unclear.
After receiving information that Cambodian police had completed their procedures, a Nepali police team led by an SP went to Cambodia and brought Bhandari back to Nepal.
According to SP Khadka, Jyoti Gurung was the general manager of the cooperative at the time. Gurung is the former wife of Nepali Congress Vice-president Dhanraj Gurung. CIB has repeatedly summoned Dhanraj for questioning in connection with the case.
A Red Notice is also active against Jyoti Gurung, but she remains at large.
Bhandari allegedly embezzled the cooperative’s funds and fled to Thailand.
Only after Bhandari had left for Thailand did Jyoti Gurung inform officials about taking the cooperative’s money.
“Bhandari had already gone to Thailand. Later, she created a WhatsApp group and communicated with Bhandari and other officials,” SP Khadka said. “It appears Bhandari even assured them that he would return the money.”
Police suspect Bhandari may have invested the money in cryptocurrency. However, further investigation was necessary to confirm this, SP Khadka said.
Earlier, Dhanraj Gurung had also suggested that the money might have been invested in crypto.
After Bhandari took over Rs 110 million from the cooperative, officials demanded the money back through the WhatsApp group.
However, CIB claims Bhandari engaged in further deception.
Bhandari messaged the cooperative’s secretary, Krishna Bahadur Rana, claiming he had parceled Rs 331.1 million to Global IME Bank’s Indra Chowk branch.
Along with the message, he sent a photo of a token as proof.
“He was supposed to return Rs 110 million but showed a token of Rs 330 million, claiming the rest was for other purposes,” SP Khadka said. “But it appears he used this excuse to swindle more money.”
He told the cooperative’s officials that a commission had to be paid to receive the parcel from Thailand.
Investigations revealed that he contacted cooperative officials from different numbers, giving false assurances while swindling more money.
According to the CIB, Bhandari personally embezzled an additional Rs 34.47 million.
The CIB has also found two passports and two citizenship certificates in Bhandari’s name.
He is accused of committing forgery and fraud by altering details on others’ passports and citizenship certificates to create fake identities.
The CIB suspects he may have cheated many others in this manner.
“If anyone has been cheated by him, they can contact the bureau,” CIB stated in a release.
It has also emerged that Bhandari is wanted in three different cases previously registered on different dates at the District Police Range, Kathmandu.
