Eleven More Victims File Fraud Case Against Gold Shop Owner

Biratnagar. Eleven more victims have filed a joint complaint at the District Administration Office, Morang, accusing the operator of 'Shubhalaxmi Adhikari Sun Chandi Pasal' located in Ramailo Bazar, Kanepokhari-6, Morang, of defrauding them of millions of rupees.

The complaint, filed on Monday, Asar 1, states that the shop operator Homnath Adhikari, his wife Batuladevi Adhikari, sons Dhruv and Manoj Adhikari, and their daughters-in-law's families have misappropriated their entire assets.

Previously, on Jestha 7, local Bishnumaya Giri had filed a complaint accusing them of fraud amounting to 2.917 million rupees.

The condition of the victims who came to file the complaint is extremely dire and pathetic. Some have lost the money they saved through a lifetime of hard work, while others have lost the money saved for medical treatment, leaving them on the streets.

Victim Durgamaya Mangrati said that she has not received back the money she deposited, nor the money deposited by her father Bir Bahadur Bayalkoti. Durgamaya said, 'My father had saved his old-age allowance. He passed away while we were discussing the money.'

Another victim, 74-year-old Narayan Dhimal, has cancer and is undergoing regular chemotherapy. He was worried about how he would continue his treatment as his deposited 265,000 rupees had not been returned.

'This is money I painstakingly saved by selling cigarettes and tobacco,' Dhimal said. Suffering from lung cancer, he is now struggling for money for treatment.

'My insurance has also stopped, and now I have no money for treatment. We must get our money back,' he lamented.

Similarly, Gangabahadur Gurung and his wife Degmaya Gurung had saved about 1.1 million rupees at the shop. Local elderly Balmaya Gurung had saved 1.65 million rupees through hard work, raising goats and sheep and collecting dung in the village. 'Now we are in a state of despair at home. Villagers say we got what we deserved. We are ruined,' she said.

Dilmaya Dhimal from the same locality had deposited 469,697 rupees of her sister at the shop. She stated that she kept the money at the gold shop because depositing it in the bank would be cumbersome.

According to the written application submitted to the District Administration Office, Morang, the additional eleven victims are Arjun Sangraula, Narayan Dhimal, Hari Poudel, Dilmaya Dhimal, Chalimaya Sangraula, Bir Bahadur Bayalkoti, Durgamaya Mangrati, Bakhrelal Dhimal, Kalawati Gurung, Salbahadur Gurung, and Gangabahadur Gurung-Degmaya Gurung.

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The operator Homnath and Batulimaya were preparing to flee to America after misappropriating nearly 120 million rupees from more than 250 ordinary people. During that time, a 'Debt Recovery Committee' was formed at the local level under the leadership of the former chairman of the Land Commission Morang, Naveen Poudel, to suppress the incident.

According to the administration's investigation, Poudel had been stalling the victims under the pretext of resolving the issue, preventing them from seeking legal recourse. Poudel had transferred 1 Bigha of land registered in the name of the operator Batuladevi to the name of his close associate Kashiraj Thapa and started plotting it instead of returning the money to the victims.

Victims claim that Poudel even threatened the main complainant Bishnumaya Giri, saying, 'I will not give you your money under any circumstances, go and hang yourself and die.'

Some victims stated that the committee led by Poudel collected money from the victims instead of returning it.

Victim Arjun Sangraula said that the committee took 1,000 rupees for every 100,000 rupees that was lost. 'They took money from the victims saying they were collecting it. I gave 5,000 rupees. Some said they gave 16,000, some 10,000,' he said. 'Instead of returning the money, they took money from us. Nothing has happened so far.'