KATHMANDU, March 17: Kathmandu District Court released Nepal Police SSP Shyam Khatri, who was arrested by Crime Investigation Bureau for his involvement in the gold smuggling racket, on bail.
A bench of Judge Dipendra Adhikari on Friday ordered to release Khatri on bail amount of Rs 200,000.
Absconding SSP surrenders, sent to judicial custody
However, the court sent seven individuals, including three custom officers, into judicial custody on the charge of involvement in the smuggling of 33.5 kg gold from Tribhuvan International Airport.
The bench ordered to send Gopal Sahi, Dilbandhu Thapa, Santosh Kafle and Raj Kumar Karki, who were involved in the racket, into judicial custody. According to joint registrar at the district court, Tika Singh Khatri, custom officers Raj Kumar Dhakal, Shree Narayan Yadav and Shyam Krishna Shrestha are also sent into the judicial custody.
Meanwhile, the bench also ordered to release Manoj Shrestha, Sapan Shrestha, Sunil Shrestha and Rajesh Shakya on bail amount of Rs 100,000.
Based on the intelligence provided by the global police, INTERPOL, the CIB on January 5 had intercepted 33.577 kg of 'smuggled' gold from Pingalasthan of Kathmandu after the valuables were being taken to the market following customs clearance at the Tribhuvan International Airport.
The CIB has already arrested 12 individuals, including SSP Khatri, on the charge of involvement in the gold smuggling racket while 21 others are at large.
