Petition of defendants in Bhutanese Refugee Case not concluded, next hearing after Dashain

KATHMANDU, Oct 12: The writ petition by those arrested in the case of fraud by making Nepalese into fake Bhutanese refugees and sending them to America has ended again with another order. Thursday's hearing ended with the order to keep the case filed in the Patan High Court.

The case was heard by the joint bench of judges of the Patan High Court Gokarna Dangi and Narayan Prasad Regmi on Thursday. Thursday's hearing ended with the order to keep the case together after another petition related to the same case was received in the High Court.

The Kathmandu District Court sent former Home Minister Balkrishna Khand, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and others to prison for committing fraud and organized crime by taking up to 45 lakhs from a single person and turning them into fake Bhutanese refugees to send them to America.

Former Home Minister Balkrishna Khand, former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and others filed a writ petition in the Patan High Court on July 28, 2023, demanding that they should be allowed to fight the case without being imprisoned as the order of the Kathmandu District Court was invalid. The petition, which has already been heard 4 times, was re-introduced on October 12, but after the hearing of the case for the fifth time, it was still not concluded.

The next hearing on the case has been scheduled for after the end of Dashain, as the hearing on the writ petition could not be concluded on October 12, today.