Corruption Case Against Former Ministers Gupta and Shrestha Postponed in Supreme Court

Kathmandu. The corruption case against former ministers Rajkumar Gupta and Ranjita Shrestha has been postponed.

Gupta had filed a petition in the Supreme Court after the Special Court ordered him to be sent to custody for trial in the Lichhibari bribery case in Kaski.

The hearing on Gupta's petition was scheduled for Tuesday before a joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Hari Prasad Phuyal and Shrikanta Paudel. The hearing was postponed after Gupta's lawyer requested a postponement, citing the connection to two other related cases concerning the Lichhibari bribery incident.

The hearing on the corruption case against former minister Ranjita Shrestha and the then Chief of the Land Revenue Office, Kaski, Ramchandra Adhikari, along with Gupta, has been postponed.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had approached the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the order of the Special Court, which had granted bail to Shrestha and Adhikari.

Previously, the Supreme Court had ordered the former minister Gupta's petition to seek a report on the irregularities. In the Pokhara Lichhibari corruption case, the bench comprising Special Court Chairman Sudarshan Dev Bhatta and Justices Dilliratna Shrestha and Bidur Koirala had ordered them to be sent to custody for trial.

It was alleged that then-Minister Gupta took a bribe of 5.3 million rupees from a real estate businessman, claiming he would stop the transfer of the then-Chief of the Land Revenue Office, Adhikari, in Kaski, and get him appointed as a member of the Land Commission.

The CIAA had accused Minister Gupta and former minister Ranjita Shrestha of taking a bribe of 2.5 million rupees through mutual collusion to misuse their positions and provide official favors.

Gupta had claimed in his statement to the court that the allegations against him were false and that he had not taken any bribes. However, the court had determined, based on the evidence immediately available, that he could not be considered innocent.