According to a Judicial Council (JC) member, a probe committee headed by Supreme Court Justice Bala Ram KC found that SC Justice Rana Bahadur Bam, Biratnagar Appellate Court Judge Hari Bahadur Basnet and Hetauda Appellate Court Judge Tej Bahadur Karki had released notorious offenders on many occasions. [break]
The committee has concluded that Sanjay Shrestha, Rohit Paliwan Agrawal and Bhimsen Pandit, who were repeatedly arrested on kidnap and murder charges, were freed on bail under controversial orders issued by the three judges at different times.
"Evidence shows that the judges were involved in releasing culprits, overruling the decisions of quasi-judicial bodies to convict them," reads the committee report submitted at the JC Thursday, adding, "The judges should have sentenced the culprits to jail terms instead of releasing them on very low bail."
Shrestha, Agrawal and Pandit have also been accused of kidnapping Dr Bhaktaman Shrestha a few months ago.
The JC had initiated investigations into Justices Bam, Basnet and Karki following the arrest of the three on the charge of kidnapping Dr Shrestha. The three have claimed that they bribed the judges many times in the past also.
Police filed cases against the three on many ocasions on charges of murder and kidnap in different parts of the country. But they were freed on bail every time.
Evidence collected by the probe committee shows that a division bench of Justices Bam and Basnet, the former in his capacity as chief judge at Patan Appellate Court, had released the three on Rs 100,000 bail, overruling the Kathmandu District Administration Office, which had slapped three years in jail and Rs 22,000 fine on each of them for possessing arms and ammunition.
The three were arrested again on kidnap charges but a single bench of Kathmandu District Court Judge Tej Bahadur Karki released them on bail although they had confessed to police that they were involved in kidnapping and possession of arms and ammunition.
Based on initial evidence, the JC suspended Judge Karki two months ago.
The JC formed the probe committee on July 15.
The source said the JC will recommend to parliament to take action against Bam as per existing law while the JC itself will decide the punishment for Basnet and Karki.
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