According to the ministry, SSP Shrestha was sacked after his clarification regarding the incident was found to be baseless. Under the recommendation of a probe committee of Nepal Police, a ministry level meeting decided to sack him from the post. [break]However, he has not been declared unfit for government service in future, Joint-Secretary Shankar Prasad, who is also spokesperson at the ministry said.
According to a Nepal Police headquarters source, the government was not convinced with Shrestha´s statements recorded during repeated interrogations. Finding his connection in the currency haul, the home ministry on Oct 31 last year had suspended him from the responsibility of deputy chief at TIA and brought him in the reserve pool at the headquarters.
A three-member high-level probe committee headed by Additional Inspector General (AIG) Bhisma Prasain had presented its report to Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kuber Singh Rana after investigating into the case.
Police had arrested Indian national Binod Kumar Soni with nine different foreign currencies totaling Rs 12.4 million from aboard a Fly Dubai plane at TIA on Oct 6. The illegal currencies was seized when a man, Milan KC, called the duty officer of TIA claiming that Fly Dubai aircraft had a bomb which was followed by a police check of the aircraft.
However, only after the confession of the police head constable Sobhit Karki, who was a driver of SSP Shrestha, that SSP Shrestha´s involvement was exposed. CCTV footage at the TIA showed Karki supplying illegal foreign currencies to Soni in the rest room of sterile zone at TIA.
Head constable Karki is currently inside Central Jail after failing to pay the bail amount ordered by the court.
Meanwhile DIG Narayan Bastakoti, the then chief of TIA security, was also recalled to Nepal Police headquarters for not being able to fulfill his responsibility properly.
Several others involved in the case are still on the run after SSP Shrestha was found guilty. The absconding businessmen involved in gold trade and hundi transactions have been identified as Min Bahadur Gurung, Kanya Prasad Gurung, Gopal Kukara, Radha Krishna Kukara, Murari Raj Goyal and Suman Agrawal.
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