Special Court Convicts Three in Community Forest Timber Bribery Case

Kathmandu. The Special Court has convicted three individuals, including Purna Shankar Yadav, in a case involving accepting bribes under the pretext of facilitating the export and release permits for community forest timber, sentencing them to imprisonment and fines.

The bench comprising Special Court Chairman Sudarshan Dev Bhatta and members Hemanta Rawal and Dilliratna Shrestha found the three individuals involved in the bribery case guilty. The court sentenced Purna Shankar Yadav to 1 year and 3 months in prison and a fine of 242,333 Nepalese Rupees.

Similarly, Kishan Singh Saud and Premsingh Thagunna were each sentenced to 1 year in prison and a fine of 242,333 Nepalese Rupees. Furthermore, the court ordered them to pay compensation of 96,933 Nepalese Rupees each to the Victim Relief Fund in accordance with Section 41 of the Protection of Crime Victims Act, 2075 (Bikram Sambat).

Defendant Purna Shankar Yadav had accepted a bribe of 727,000 Nepalese Rupees from the complainant, Kishan Singh Saud (Bishal), allegedly on behalf of Prem Singh Thagunna, who was the chairman of the Community Forest Consumer Committee. The amount was demanded for the insurance and release permits of the timber stacked at the forest depot. The CIAA team recovered the amount from Yadav's office.

Although the defendants changed their statements in court, they were found guilty based on the audio recordings collected by the CIAA, transcripts of telephone conversations, and forensic laboratory test reports. The court considered the serial numbers of the recovered notes and the phone conversations with the complainant as key evidence.