Ward Chairman Arrested for Human Trafficking, Rape, and Fraud

Kathmandu. A ward chairman from Syangja has been arrested on charges of luring a young woman with the promise of sending her to America, holding her captive in various countries, committing rape, and defrauding her of millions of rupees. The Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau arrested Shiv Bahadur Thapa, 44, the ward chairman of Ward No. 4 of Putalibazar Municipality, from Pokhara, Kaski. Thapa had befriended the victim through the social media app WhatsApp and convinced her he would send her to America for 6 million rupees. As per the plan, on April 11, 2078 BS, he took the victim from Kathmandu to Dubai and kept her in a hotel for a month. While in Dubai, under the pretext of visa processing, an agent took the victim's passport, photos, and foreign currency equivalent to 800,000 rupees, and a visit visa was prepared. Subsequently, the victim was taken to Colombia via Bahrain, Turkey, Brazil, and Peru. During her year-long captivity in Colombia, the victim was subjected to physical and mental torture, as well as rape, the Bureau stated. When the victim requested to be sent back to Nepal, the defendant Thapa demanded more money. To save her life, the victim sent 98,900 US dollars to various bank accounts provided by Thapa and through Western Union via a friend in America. After receiving the money, Thapa arranged for his agents to take the victim from Colombia through the jungles of Panama to the Mexican border. Upon reaching there, another 20,000 dollars were demanded, and when this amount could not be paid, the agents abandoned the victim in Mexico and became unreachable. The stranded victim, with the coordination of relatives in America and the Nepali Embassy in America, managed to obtain travel documents and successfully returned to Nepal on April 2, 2083 BS. Based on the complaint filed after her return to Nepal, a Bureau team arrested Thapa from Pokhara on May 28, 2083 BS. Further investigation is underway regarding the human trafficking and smuggling case against him after extending his detention by the Kathmandu District Court, informed Police Superintendent Rajan Limbu, the information officer.