Special Court Schedules Hearing for Suspended Mayor Bharat Kumar Thapa in Corruption Case

Kathmandu. The Special Court has scheduled a hearing for the corruption case filed against eight individuals, including the suspended Mayor of Bagmati Municipality, Sarlahi, Bharat Kumar Thapa.

The hearing is set before a bench comprising Special Court judges Narayan Prasad Poudel, Umesh Koirala, and Bidur Koirala. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has demanded a recovery of 567.1 million rupees each from Mayor Thapa, Deputy Mayor Leela Kumari Moktan, and former minister Bijay Kumar.

Additionally, Bimal Kumar Pokharel, Sagar Poudel, Bishwaraj Pokharel, Niranjan Lamichhane, Bijay Kumar, Gokul Bhujel, and Leela Kumari Moktan have been named as defendants. Suspended Mayor Thapa and others are accused of committing offenses under the former Forest Act, 2049, and the current Forest Act, 2076, by constructing illegal structures, including a fish pond.

The CIAA filed the case against Thapa, alleging corruption exceeding 567.1 million rupees under the guise of fish pond construction, and has demanded a corresponding recovery.

According to the commission, funds were misappropriated by requesting millions from federal and provincial sources for the construction of a fish pond in pits created by the illegal extraction of stones, gravel, sand, and soil from the forest area of the Sagarnath Forest Development Project in wards 4 and 12 of Bagmati.

The charges also include allegations that grants were repeatedly obtained from the Madhesh Province government for a fishless pond, and that former Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Bijay Kumar, signed an MOU to provide a grant of 300 million rupees while construction remained incomplete.