Writ petition filed at Supreme Court against ex-PMs Nepal, Bhattarai for their alleged involvement in Lalita Niwas land scam

Published On: February 12, 2020 04:49 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Feb 12: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court on Wednesday demanding to file corruption case against two former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai for their alleged involvement in Lalita Niwas land scam.

Advocate Balkrishna Neupane, in his writ petition, has challenged the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)'s decision not to implicate the two former prime ministers in the Lalita Niwas land scam.

The writ petition comes at a time when the anti-graft watchdog is facing widespread criticism as it did not implicate two of the accused former PMs Nepal and Baburam in the much-talked-about land scam.

In its charge-sheet at the Special Court, the CIAA argued that it was not mandated to investigate decisions taken by the cabinet. So the prime ministers who endorsed ministerial decisions to register public land as private property and gave the nod to fake owners are likewise off the hook.

On Feb 5, CIAA filed a charge-sheet against 175 individuals, including some erstwhile bigwigs, at the Special Court, accusing them of involvement in illegally registering Lalita Niwas land in the names of various individuals.

Read more on Lalita Niwas land scam:

114 ropani of Lalita Niwas land worth billions captured by individuals now under CIB probe

CIAA summons 86 individuals over Lalita Niwas land scam