A Special Court bench led by Chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki and Om Prakash Mishra and Kedar Prasad Chalise as members sought the bail from Bharati following preliminary hearings in graft charges involving him. Proprietor of Bhagawati Traders, Bharati is also the local agent of London-based Assured Risks Ltd that supplied ´obsolete´ Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and other logistics meant for Nepal Police personnel serving at UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan.[break]
Bharati is one of the two persons from whom the Special Court has sought the biggest bail amount in the Sudan scam related cases. Earlier, the Special Court demanded Rs 150 million in bail from former police chief Om Bikram Rana. Rana too was sent to jail after he failed to deposit the bail amount.
The court had sent Bharati to judicial custody on Tuesday following a hearing on the charges leveled against him in the case.
The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had pressed graft charges against Bharati, a British national, and 34 retired and incumbent Nepal Police officers including three former IGPs, accusing them of embezzling Rs 290 million in the controversial APCs procurement deal.
Also on Friday, the Special Court sent suspended SSP Shiva Lamichhane and SP Niraj Bahadur Shahi and former Deputy Inspector General Shyam Singh Thapa, who also have been implicated in the scam, to judicial custody.
Hearings in their cases could not be held on Friday due to shortage of time. The Special Court has rescheduled hearings in their cases for Sunday.
(FILE PHOTO)
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