KATHMANDU, Sept 27: The detention hearing on the case involving the smuggling of 60.716 kg of gold has started from today.

The hearing has begun at the bench of Kathmandu District Court Judge Madhav Prasad Mainali from Wednesday.

On the first day, three lawyers from the District Government Attorney's Office Kathmandu will put forward their arguments. 

Likewise, the defendants’ lawyers will start putting forward their arguments from Friday. It has not been decided how many people will debate. On Tuesday, the recording of statements of all the defendants was completed.

In this case, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police recommended 29 people to be prosecuted. After that, the public prosecutor filed a case against 29 people at the Kathmandu District Court on August 31.

A case was registered under the unified offense of Section 57 (1) (d) of 1 (b) of the Organized Crime Prevention Act 2070, Section 57 (1) (d) of the Customs Act 2064, Section 95 of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act 2058 and Section 43 of the Civil Code 2074.

The CIB concluded that 50 people were involved in the 60.716 kilogram gold smuggling case. But the CIB itself gave an opinion not to proceed with the case saying that the identity of some of the fugitives was not disclosed and some of the arrested persons were not involved.

Chinese nationals Yao Pucheng alias Alex, Li Wensung, Li Nenkai, Ding Segfa, Lin Chachiyang, Indian nationals Thuptin Tshering alias Tasi, Harkaraj Rai, Belgian national Dawa Tshering, Chinese nationals Yang Wen, and Tian Mi have been arrested.

Similarly, Krishna Kumar Shrestha, Pushkar Raj Bhatt, Rajendra Kumar Rai, Yadav Parajuli, Sudarshan Gautam, Ram Kumar Bhujel, Dilip Bhujel, Suman Kharel, Shivakumar Saraf, Kishor Basnet, Santosh Chand, Ganesh Prasad Paudel, Birendra Nepali, Kumar Dhakal, Saroj Shrestha and Rukmina Subba have been made defendants.

Bhola Sah Sonar, who lives in Kalaiya Sub-metropolis-1, Jiban Chalaune, a permanent resident of Bardiya who lives in Kathmandu Chundevi, and Amala Roka, who lives in Rolpa and runs the Vienna Hotel in Thamel, are absconding.

 
• gold_smuggling_case
 
• detention_hearing