KATHMANDU, Feb 17: The Special Court has convicted former government employees, middlemen and land buyers in the infamous Lalita Niwas land-grab case that saw the involvement of high-profile politicians as well.
A division bench of judges Khushi Prasad Tharu, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Ritendra Thapa, however, acquitted the politicians allegedly involved in the scam. Besides ordering the confiscation of the land illegally acquired in the corruption case involving 175 people, the court sentenced each of them to a maximum of two years imprisonment and imposed fines of up to Rs 8 million.
Deep Basnyat, a former secretary and former head of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, along with former secretary, the then employees of the Land Revenue Office, and middlemen were among those convicted of corruption in the land-grab scam. According to a proposal submitted by the then Secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning, Deep Basnyat, the then prime minister and the line minister concerned had taken the decision to transfer the ownership of the public land to private individuals in 2066 BS.
The then secretary of the Ministry of Land Reforms and Management, Chhabi Raj Pant, with the approval of the line minister Dumbar Shrestha, had decided to submit a proposal to the Dillibazar Land Revenue Office in connection with the implementation of the decision of the Council of Ministers.
The court explained that the decision of the cabinet is recorded and that the decision makers cannot be exempted from the offense. Former secretaries Chhabi Raj Pant, Deep Basnyat, Prem Bahadur Khapung, Arjun Khatiwada, Shankar Prasad Subedi, Angur Sigdel, Kedar Prasad Shrestha, Harikrishna Timalsina, Parashuram Pokharel, Krishna Prasad Poudel, Prakash Bhatt, Tanka Poudel will each be imprisoned for two years and fined Rs 8,048,000 each.
The court acquitted the political leaders, including former deputy prime minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, who was an accused in the case. Due to the lack of evidence, Gachchhadar, the then ministers for land reforms and law, Dumbar Shrestha and Chandradev Joshi, and the then Secretary Dinesh Hari Adhikari were acquitted, according to the court verdict.
Politicians granted amnesty; Govt employees and businessmen inv...
Meen Bahadur Gurung, the owner of Bhatbhateni Supermarket chain, and Ram Kumar Subedi and Shobhakant Dhakal, who worked as middlemen in the land-grab scam, were sentenced to two years in prison and were slapped a fine of Rs 8,048,000 each.
Srikrishna Maharjan, Dwarikaman Maharjan, Gwarabhai Maharjan, Machanani Maharjan, Baburaja Maharjan, Rena Gurung, Teerthamaya Maharjan (wife of Ashanarayan Maharjan), Teerthamaya Maharjan (wife of Nati Maharjan), Devnarayan Maharjan (son of Nati Maharjan), Devnarayan Maharjan (grandson of driver Bhaicha son of Ashakaji Maharjan), Kanchha Maharjan, Harsh Maharjan, who are the main defendants, have been sentenced to imprisonment for two years. In their case, the court has ruled that they will be fined according to the charges and the wrongdoing.
The court has ruled that there are 72 accomplices in the land case. The court held that 57 people, including the land tenants, Bill Bahadur Maharjan, and 15 people, including Indra Bahadur Thapa, who either bought the land plots or got them as gifts, were the accomplices in the crime. It has been decided that the accomplices, too, will be sentenced to two years of imprisonment equal to the punishment given to the main defendants and will be fined accordingly.
Chief Officer of Tripureshwar-based Guthi Sansthan, Haribol Acharya; Senior Assistant of the Guthi Sansthan Office, Rameshwar Bidari; Guthi Administrator Sewantraj Chapagain; Deputy Administrator Hemraj Subedi; Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Land Reforms and Administration Tok Raj Pandey; Guthi Sansthan’s Assistant Administrator Tulsi Pokharel; Deputy Administrator Hari Prasad Joshi; Guthi Administrator Baliram Prasad Teli; Permanent Guthi Administrator Dilip Kumar Bhatt; Assistant Nabraj Paudel; Deputy Administrator Jai Prasad Regmi; Assistant Administrator Shailendra Paudel; former Section Officer Phanindra Prasad Dahal of the Land Revenue Office, Dillibazar; Non Gazetted first class officer Manikumar Rana; Section Officer Badri Bahadur Karki; Under Secretary Laxminarayan Upreti; Chief of Land Revenue Office Dinesh Prasad Sharma, along with others, have been sentenced to one year in prison and fined a total of Rs 4,167,525.
The court has ordered each of the above-mentioned employees to pay a total of Rs 70.8 million in compensation.
Additionally, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has noted that the land has been transferred in accordance with the new land survey system, and previous rights, including ownership, have also been transferred accordingly. Consequently, the government will retain confiscation of the land until proper ownership is established.
The court ruled that the land acquired by the defendants Suniti Rana, Shailaja Rana, Heman Shamsher, Hatak Shamsher and Rukma Shamsher through illegal means will be confiscated. It has been decided that the land registered in the names of 65 individuals, including Kalpana Tuladhar, mentioned in the charge sheet will also be confiscated.
They will be subject to confiscation of the land distributed as fake tenants, as well as illegal purchase or transfer of land. Defendant Suniti Rana has been held responsible for the offense of accomplice and fined a total of Rs 700,000 and sentenced to six months in prison on behalf of six individuals.
The court has acquitted Hemadri Shamsher. It further mentioned that the then Survey Officer Janak Bahadur Bhandari and Kamal Ghimire along with surveyors Dev Bahadur Lamichhane and Bharat Chandra Aryal of Dillibazar were also given a clean chit. Additionally, Rajendra Man Shrestha, Balkrishna Shrestha, Surojraj Rajkarnikar, Ashoknath Upreti, and Hupendra Mani KC, who was the under secretary of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation at the time, along with Joint Secretary Jeet Bahadur Thapa, have been cleared of the alleged crime due to lack of evidence, as their involvement can only be established based on the information provided by the tenants.
A corruption case was registered by the CIAA on the grounds that government officials from various agencies, ranging from the lowest to the highest levels misused their positions and misused the government office in collusion to transfer 299 ropanis of government land in Baluwatar in the name of individuals.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had registered a case against the then Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and Minister Dambar Shrestha demanding recovery of Rs 96,536,000 from them. Similarly, in the case against the then minister Chandradev Joshi, a case demanding Rs 78,448,000 was filed. Similarly, a case was registered against the then secretaries Dinesh Hari Adhikari and Chhabiraj Pant demanding Rs 78,848,000 and Rs 96,576,000 respectively.
This is a high-profile corruption case, which gained notoriety since the 1970s, due to the involvement of prominent and high-ranking individuals.
On February 5, 2020, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case in the Special Court against ten high-profile ministers, three secretaries, four individuals accused of obtaining land through irregular means, and 175 individuals involved in transferring land of Lalita Niwas of Baluwatar in the name of individuals.
