KATHMANDU, August 4: The people of the business family backgrounds involved in buying and selling the government land at Lalita Niwas in the name of individuals are absconding.

They absconded after the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police signed the official seal and arrested some of them for organized crime and started investigation into that case.

According to the CIB, the businessmen involved in the Lalita Niwas land-grab scam are currently absconding and a search for them is on. 

The police have not been able to arrest them because they are not in Nepal now. It is known from sources that the CIB are coordinating with Delhi Police and Dubai Police to bring them back to Nepal.

Currently, the police have not been able to arrest Manoj Kedia, Managing Director of Kedia Organisation and Executive Chairman of Siddharth Bank Ltd. After it was found that the government land of Lalita Niwas was in the name of Kedia, the CIB is now investigating the matter but he is absconding. Although the land of Lalita Niwas was found to be in the names of Kedia and his relatives, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) did not file a case against them. The CIAA did not file a case saying that the land in the name of individuals including Kedia should be transferred to the name of the government.

Chairman of Nepal Life Insurance Govind Lal Sanghai is also absconding. He absconded as the police put him on the wanted list after it was discovered that the land of Lalita Niwas belonged to the government. Sanghai bought the land of plot number 501, 457, 500, 497 and 489 of Lalita Niwas in his name. The CIAA did not prosecute him on the condition of returning the land. The police claim that he is currently out of the country. Sanghai was earlier arrested for submitting a fake tax payment certificate.

Purushottam Paudel, a Kia car dealer in Nepal, is also on the CIB's wanted list. Paudel, who is also the chairman and executive director of Continental Trading Enterprises, is absconding now. Plot number 92 in seat number 1025-20 is in the name of Paudel. The police claim that he is also outside the country. The land of Lalita Niwas has also been found in the name of Indu Sharma. In the name of Indu, it appears that about 13 ropanis of land of plot numbers 96, 105, 107, 109, 111, 73 of seat number 1025-20, plot number 72, 76, 19 and 21 of seat number 1025-19 are owned.

Kailash Chandra Goyal, the chairman of the Goyal Group and founder shareholder of Sunrise Bank, is also absconding after being involved in the Lalita Niwas land-grab scam. As much as 19 ropanis of land of Lalita Niwas is in the name of Kailash Chandra Goyal's DLF Developers. Goyal Group has been running companies ranging from banks to construction companies.

Chairman of Sharda Group Shiv Ratan Sharda is also on the wanted list of the police. It is claimed that Shiv Ratan, the owner of the Sharda Group, an industrial house in Biratnagar, fled to India after being searched by the police. Sharda brothers bought the land with businessman Min Bahadur Gurung, Sobhakant Dhakal and Ramkumar Subedi.

After knowing that the police would arrest them, the businessmen of Biratnagar lobbied the government not to arrest the chairman and members of Sharda Group. After the search by CIB, Shivratan Sharda, his son Sandeep Kumar, brother Srinivas, Radheshyam, Pawan Kumar are absconding from Biratnagar. Sanjay Kumar Chachan, Pramod Gurung and other businessmen are absconding, police said. 

They bought the land through an arrangement with land mafia Shobhakant Dhakal, Ramkumar Subedi and another businessman Min Bahadur Gurung. The police have taken permission to arrest them on the same charge, but they have now switched off their mobile phones and are disconnected from all other forms of communication, the police said.

A senior official of CIB said that although they are not directly involved in grabbing 143 ropanis of land of Lalita Niwas, they were brought into the scope of investigation because they had purchased the land through collusion knowing that it was government land.

The CIB, which started an investigation into the case of forgery of government signatures and documents while registering government land in the name of individuals, obtained permission to arrest 406 people. Among them, 21 have been arrested.

 
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