ROLPA, March 6: Bir Bahadur Khatri, chairman of Gangadev Rural Municipality of Rolpa has been found to have acquired two citizenships on different dates by providing fake details.
On November 25, 1985, he obtained his first citizenship from the district mentioning his name as Bhiude Khatri. The registration number of the first citizenship is 3892. Similarly, on April 27, 1989, he obtained another citizenship from the district identifying himself as Bir Bahadur Khatri. The registration number in the second citizenship certificate is 186. According to District Administration Office (DAO), Rolpa, both the citizenships belong to the same person as per the examination by the National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL), Khumaltar.
When will these Nepali citizens get citizenship certificates?
Earlier, on January 26, 2018, a local Hari Bahadur Pun had filed a complaint at the Area Police Office (APO) in the district accusing Khatri of possessing two citizenship certificates. However, the APO refused to register the complaint. Five days later Pun filed the complaint at the DAO, Rolpa.
Following his complaint, DAO began the investigation and submitted the photocopies of Khatri’s citizenship certificates to NFSL to find out the truth. On October 22, 2018, NFSL informed the DAO that both the citizenship certificates belong to the same person. “Now that it has been proven that he possesses two citizenship certificates with different names, we have sent the documents to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further action,” said Chief District Officer (CDO) Ganj Bahadur MC.
Meanwhile, complainant Pun has expressed his disappointment after the DAO refused to take action against Khatri and threatened to move court. As per the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006, if a person is found acquiring two citizenships by providing fake details, the chief district officer can scrap his/her second citizenship.
Furthermore, a person with two citizenship certificates faces five years jail and a fine between Rs 20,000 and Rs 100,000.
As mentioned in the complaint filed by Pun, Pathu Khatri had five sons: Bhiude, Dhaniram, Bir Bahadur, Motiram and Dandapani. However, the third son Bir Bahadur died in 1983. Later, the first son Bhiude apparently deceived the then Panchayat of Pakhapani and obtained a citizenship in the name of his deceased brother Bir Bahadur.
