The court has directed the police to take Keshav Narayan Pradhan, then branch manager of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB), his deputy Gangadhar Poudel and Credit chief Surya Lamsal along with engineer Saroj Man Palikhe of Godhar Consultancy to judicial custody. [break]
They were released on bail by the district court order earlier.
The joint bench of judges Dilli Raj Acharya and Raj Kumar Ban issued the order on Thursday.
Poudel was nabbed by the police a few months ago after he was found to have produced fake land ownership certificates to take loans. In the case related to RBB alone, Poudel had managed to swindle the bank of Rs 2.5 million in connivance with the bank staff and the engineer by overvaluing the 3080.25 sq feet land in Chhinedanda - 19 Pokhara.
Godhar Consultancy had certified in Sept 2009 that the land pledged as collateral valued Rs 5.53 million. RBB had released loan to Poudel on the basis of the documents prepared by the consultancy.
However, investigations later revealed that Poudel had already pledged the land as collateral at Garima Development Bank. Despite the enormity of the crime, the district court had released the three bank employees and the engineer on a bail of Rs 700,000 each.
The Court has also asked Surendra Godhar of Godhar Consultancy and Raju Bahadur Koirala, an employee of Pokhara sub-metropolitan who approved the map of the land, to deposit Rs 2.5 million and Rs 300,000 as bail amount respectively.
Earlier, Godhar had deposited only Rs 700,000 and Koirala 50,000 as bail.
Another employee of Godhar Consultancy, Sagar Parajuli, meanwhile, is still absconding.
Related story
Govt spokesman accuses Congress of abetting Chand
