KATHMANDU, Jan 23: The District Government Attorney's Office (DGAO) has registered a case on charge of organized crime at the Kathmandu District Court against 17 individuals, including businessman Bimal Poddar, who was previously implicated in the 33 kg gold smuggling case. The case is filed under the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 2002.

Kathmandu District Attorney Sandesh Shrestha said that the case was filed at the court based on a report submitted by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police.

On November 22, CIB arrested businessman Rupesh Shrestha on charges of hundi (illegally remitting money from abroad) and online gambling and started an investigation.

CIB officials said that during the investigation, the country's largest hundi and cryptocurrency trading group was uncovered.

Rupesh's brother Dipesh Shrestha had also been made a defendant by the time the case was filed at the court after 60 days of investigation. According to the police, he is staying in the US and helping crypto businesses.

According to the police, businessman Bimal Poddar was also found to be involved in crypto transactions with Rupesh. Poddar owns Silver City Apartment in Kalikasthan and The Address Lounge. He also came under investigation in the case of 14 kg of gold seized by the Tribhuvan International Airport customs office.

Other defendants in the case include Ashish Agarwal, Min Bahadur, Kumar Pariyar, and Jhanindra Prasad Khatiwada. Additionally, individuals such as Rachna Sharma, Om Kumar Shrestha, Bigal Singh Sharma, Sharad Bhattarai, Birendra Magar, Deepak Sharma, Wangden Phuntsok Lama, Govinda Prasad Shrestha, Rudey Tamang, and Anshul Shrestha are currently absconding.

In this case, the DGAO has demanded Rs 286 billion in compensation from the defendants.

 
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