Case filed against 17 people, including GB Rai, in Chitwan Court for fund embezzlement

KATHMANDU, Sept 24: The Public Prosecutor's Office in Chitwan has filed a case against 17 individuals, including Gitendra Babu Rai (GB Rai), accusing them of embezzling funds from the Sahara Chitwan Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

According to District Attorney Shanti Prasad Luitel, the case was registered based on a police investigation report, which recommended action against the individuals for misappropriation of cooperative funds. The investigation revealed that those accused had embezzled Rs 523.2 million, and the case was filed accordingly.

A year ago, the victims of the cooperative had filed complaints against 14 people for misappropriation of money, leading to an investigation and arrest warrants from the Chitwan court. During the investigation, three additional individuals were found involved and cases filed against them. 

Among the accused, Kumar Ramtel, Ashish Anand, and Chhatramani Bhattarai are currently in jail, while 14 others are on the run. Ramtel, who is in Pokhara prison, admitted that he worked under GB Rai's instructions.

Sahara Cooperative has 6,334 depositors, with 446 of them filing complaints to recover their savings. The government attorney's office has demanded the return of the embezzled funds and has also accused the defendants of money laundering. The office instructed Chitwan police to investigate further and submit property details for all 17 accused.

Although the investigation had previously stalled, it was restarted after several depositors requested help from high-level political leaders. Likewise, the government has instructed authorities to implement the recommendations of a parliamentary probe committee to return the depositors’ money.