Court Orders Witness Examination in Corruption Case Against Former Rapti Health Academy Vice-Chancellor and 12 Others

Kathmandu. An order has been issued to examine witnesses in the corruption case filed against 13 individuals, including the former Vice-Chancellor of Rapti Academy of Health Sciences, Prof. Dr. Sangita Singh Bhandari.

A division bench of Special Court judges Narayan Prasad Poudel and Bidur Koirala issued the order to examine evidence and witnesses on Tuesday. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed the corruption case in the Special Court on Ashoj 23, concluding that corruption occurred during the purchase of an MRI machine, naming Vice-Chancellor Bhandari and 12 others.

The CIAA had filed the case against Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Sangita Singh Bhandari, acting Registrar Jhankar Lamichhane, Finance Manager Kailash Prasad Dev, Biomedical Engineer Sharad Bhandari and Amit Kumar Chaudhary, Deputy Finance Manager Nitin Kurmi, Section Officers Chhaya D.C. and Shriram Chaudhary, I.T. Officer Hiralal Bhandari, Civil Engineer Madan Bhandari, and Senior Assistant Anju Sharma.

Furthermore, former Biomedical Engineer Sujata Bhattarai from the Department of Health Services and the supplier company Lumbini Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. and its Chairman Post Raj Gyawali were also named as defendants.

The Commission demanded a total claim of 12 crore 7 lakh 60 thousand 946 rupees from all defendants and sought punishment. It also demanded the recovery of 9 crore 34 lakh 26 thousand 619 rupees that had been paid to date.

The CIAA concluded that corruption occurred due to collusion between the officials of the Academy and the supplier company following an investigation into complaints of financial irregularities in the purchase of a low-quality MRI machine.