KATHMANDU, Sept 10: The case of Lalita Niwas land-grab scam has reached its end. According to Deepak Dahal, information officer of the Kathmandu District Court, a defendant will put forward his arguments today and then the district attorney will respond.
"If the argument of the district attorney is over today, the detention order will be issued today itself, otherwise the order will be given tomorrow," Dahal said. Earlier on Friday, the lawyers had concluded their arguments on behalf of 17 of the 18 defendants who are in police custody.
The debate on behalf of Lokhari Ghimire, the head of the office of Samarjung Company was left. Today, after the lawyer's argument on behalf of Ghimire, there will be a counter argument from the government attorney. Then, the court will issue a detention order. A detention order is the decision of the court as to who should be detained, who should be released on bail and who should be released on one’s own recognizance.
Lalita Niwas land grab scam: PMO facilitated issuance of stay o...
A hearing is underway at Kathmandu District Court under the bench of Judge Bholanath Dhakal. The District Government Attorney Office has registered the case against 310 people for the forgery of government documents.
Although the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police spent 60 days investigating the incident for organized crime, the Attorney General registered a case against forgery saying that organized crime would not be applicable.
From 2049 BS to 2069 BS, 143 ropanis of land of Lalita Niwas was transferred in the name of individuals by creating a fake tenant. A case has been registered against former ministers, former secretaries, former officials, fake tenants, businessmen and others in the land-grab scam.
Among the accused are former Election Commissioner Sudhir Kumar Shah, businessman Min Bahadur Gurung, former Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and four former ministers and former secretaries.
