The Kathmandu District Court has ordered the release of Ganesh Bhakta Shrestha, the then general secretary of Bal Mandir, on bail in the case related to the Bal Mandir land scam.
On Monday, a bench of Judge Gayatri Prasad Regmi ordered the release of Shrestha on a bail of Rs 500,000.
On May 7, a case was filed against 17 individuals, including Shrestha and Rita Singh, the then chairperson of Bal Mandir, in connection with the land scam. Singh is the elder sister of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development Prakash Man Singh.
However, the other defendants have not appeared in court. They include Tulsi Narayan Shrestha, Krishan Shankar Shah, Shyam Kumar Ale, Subash Kumar Pokharel, Prachanda Raj Pradhan, Ramkaji Gurung, Yogendra Bahadur Shahi, Deepak Das Shrestha, Prabin Raj Joshi, Murari Nidhi Tiwari, Purushottam Raj Joshi, Shraddha Sedhain, Abhinav Singhaniya, Siddharth Kedia, and Kirti Prasad Pandeya.
The Office of the Attorney General had decided to prosecute them on May 6.
They are accused of irregularities in leasing out 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).
Earlier, arrests 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.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had obtained arrest warrants for 20 individuals including Singh in connection with the scam.
The District Government Attorney Office, Kathmandu, investigated them but decided not to pursue a case against them.
The High Government Attorney’s Office also upheld the decision and forwarded it to the Office of the Attorney General, which directed the authorities to file a case in connection with the scam. The case was finally registered at the Kathmandu District Court on May 7.
Rita Singh and others have been charged with fraud under the former Civil Code, and sub-section (3) (c) of Section 249 of the new National Penal (Code) Act, 2017.
As per the provision, those found guilty of fraud can face imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of up to Rs 70,000.
