The investigation into three individuals, including Jyoti Bahadur Bhandari, arrested in connection with the misappropriation of funds from Lalitpur’s Miteri Savings and Credit Cooperative, has reached its final stage.
On Monday, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police presented the three individuals before the Lalitpur District Court for a final extension of their detention period.
The CIB has been investigating Bhandari and his two associates, Subash Khatri from Dhading and Suresh Adhikari from Bardiya, for the past 55 days.
The CIB is preparing to file a case in court within the next five days. A total of 144 victims of the cooperative are in contact with the police.
The police are set to file charges against them under five offenses: cooperative fraud, forgery, hundi (illegal money transfer), illegal transactions in intangible currency, and organized crime, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati of the CIB.
“The investigation is in its final stage. The three arrested individuals appear to be the main culprits in the cooperative fraud,” he said. “The exact amount misappropriated by all is still being determined, and the process is ongoing.”
The CIB has concluded that the total amount misappropriated from Miteri Cooperative is Rs 90 million. A total of Rs 140 million, including interest, needs to be recovered, as per the investigation.
Bhandari has been identified by the police as the main accused in the fraud case. He was arrested in Cambodia on June 18 with Interpol’s assistance and brought to Nepal. Subsequently, Khatri and Adhikari were also arrested.
According to a police officer involved in the investigation, Khatri is a notorious hundi operator, among the most active in Nepal.
When the police went to arrest him, he smashed his iPhone 16 Pro phone on the ground. Later, the CIB team sent the phone for repair.
“He had smashed the phone, but we got the screen fixed and sent it to the Digital Forensic Lab (DFL),” said the officer involved in the investigation. “Later, the report from there revealed details of transactions worth billions.”
The police reported finding evidence of transactions worth Rs 4.6 billion on his mobile phone, including some involving cryptocurrency.
Khatri is said to have purchased a house in Sitapaila with earnings from the hundi operations.
The police said that Khatri facilitated the transfer of funds to Bhandari in Cambodia and Thailand through hundi. However, Adhikari was the one responsible for physically transporting the hundi money.
Adhikari cooperated fully with the police, providing all relevant information. He admitted to the police that he collected and transported cash worth Rs 220 million from various places. However, he received only a small amount for his role.
The police officer involved in the investigation noted that his statement matched the details recorded in Bhandari’s diary.
“Apart from the Rs 90 million, the remaining amount involves personal fraud as well. Suresh transported 220 million rupees for hundi and handed it over to Subash, who then passed it to Jyoti Bahadur,” the officer said. “It was also found that Subash used as much of the money as he wanted.”
Jyoti Gurung, the former wife of Nepali Congress Vice-president Dhanraj Gurung, is also implicated in the cooperative fraud case. A red notice has been issued for her, and she is currently absconding.
Jyoti, who was the cooperative’s general manager at the time, introduced Bhandari to the cooperative’s office-bearers. Statements revealed that a meeting between them took place in Thankot before any transactions occurred in the cooperative, though exact details are yet to be confirmed.
Jyoti informed the office-bearers only after Bhandari had taken money from the cooperative. “He took the cooperative’s money and even won the trust of the office-bearers to personally defraud them,” said a CIB officer.
He repeatedly took money from the cooperative’s chairman Kummaraj Gurung, general manager Jyoti, secretary Krishna Bahadur Rana, and others. Some victims even sold their homes to give him money, according to the police.
It was found that an additional Rs 31.1 million was defrauded after the initial misappropriation.
SSP Hobindra Bogati said that Bhandari gained their trust by showing a bank statement from Global IME Bank for Rs 330 million.
“After seeing the statement, they sent over 30 million more, which was also defrauded,” he said.
Even after his arrest, Bhandari claimed that Rs 130 million is still in Cambodia, SSP Bogati said.
“He has said that 130 million is in Cambodia with someone involved in hundi transactions,” he added.
The police said that Bhandari deceived people by propping up various individuals.
