Indian Police turned over Lama, 35, to a team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at an undisclosed location in India bordering Kanchanpur district, officials said.[break]
Indian Police had detained Lama for a few weeks before handing him over to the Nepal Police. Both countries have long followed a tradition passing on each other´s most wanted criminals despite not having singed an extradition treaty.
Lama, 35, was sent to Kanchanpur prison immediately after the Indian authorities turned him over to the Nepal Police. He will be brought to Kathmandu and made public on Monday afternoon, officials said.
Shop attendant turned criminal
During the early 2000s, the name Sandip Pathak evoked terror in the minds of wealthy Kathmanduties. His group (International Spider Group) was the first organized ring in the capital known for extorting businessmen, especially manpower agents, hospital promoters and bureaucrats.
The group had shot at Dr Hemang Dixit and Dr Bir Man Shamsher Rana of Kathmandu Medical College, and LP Sanwa, then chairman of Nepal Foreign Employment Association in the capital in 2002 for not coughing up money as demanded by them.
Subsequently, the government had lodged separate cases of attempted murder, drug dealing and extortion against Lama.
Lama from Sindhuli had formed the group while he had been working as an attendant at shoe shop in Durbarmarg. He had befriended Bir Bahadur Khatri, Kedar Shrestha, Ganesh Kumar Lama and Manoj Tamangala, who were arrested later, to form the criminal group. Sandip Pathak was the pseudonym he invented for himself to issue threats to his targets.
Milan Lama aka Sandip Pathak
Nepal Police had been trying to take Lama into custody, especially after his release nine months ago from a Delhi jail following completion of his 27-month prison term. The Delhi court had sent him to jail on the charge of possessing arms instead of handing him over to Nepal after arresting him in October, 2007. The Delhi Police had arrested him acting on a complaint lodged by a visiting Nepali businessman.
After his release from the Indian jail Lama had resurrected his group. The group however was not as effective as before. “He, however, continued to issue threats and extort businessmen and bureaucrats,” said an official involved in investigation. “Lately, he was found to have been operating his ring from the remote north-east areas bordering India and Bhutan.”
The government had also issued a red-corner notice through Interpol against Lama who in his good times was believed to operate his ring from countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rajendra Singh Bhandari, the CBI chief, said, “This is a big achievement.”
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