District Court Kathmandu Continues Hearing on Fake Bhutanese Refugee Case

Kathmandu. The hearing of the case related to the fake Bhutanese refugee scam at the District Court Kathmandu has been kept pending. The case, which has been under hearing for five days, has been scheduled for hearing on Wednesday.

Since May 27, this case has been under the hearing of Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka's bench. Judge Khadka has postponed the hearing after noon today and scheduled it for tomorrow, citing the need for time to study the file of the Bhutanese refugee case.

Hundreds of lawyers have registered their names to argue this case. Among the hundreds of lawyers who have registered their names for arguments, Judge Khadka has been urging them to manage time and shorten the duration of the arguments.

The case of extorting large sums of money by making Nepali citizens fake Bhutanese refugees and sending them to countries like America had been stalled for a long time without a hearing. However, since May 27, the court has been continuously hearing the case by scheduling it.

On May 10, 2080, a case was filed at the District Court Kathmandu against former Deputy Prime Minister and UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former Home Minister and Congress leader Balkrishna Khand, then Home Secretary Teknarayan Pandey, former MP Angtawa Sherpa, and former Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa's security advisor Indrajit Rai, along with 30 others, on charges of forgery, fraud, organized crime, and crime against the state. The charge sheet claims that Nepali citizens were made Bhutanese refugees under the plan of an organized gang by preparing documents.

In this case, key middlemen Keshav Dulal, his wife Deepa Humagain, another middleman Sanu Bhandari and Sandesh Sharma, as well as Tankakumar Gurung, Mohanraj Rai, Niranjan kumar Kharel, Keshav Tuladhar, who worked within the gang's network, middleman Haribhakta Maharjan, his wife Laxmi Maharjan, Rajesh Aryal, Binita Sabden Limbu, Sagar Rai, Ashish Budhathoki, Sunil Budhathoki, Ramsharan KC, Ashok Pokharel, Govindkumar Chaudhary, Dhiren Rai, Bechan Jha, and Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rizal were also charged with the same offense.

Of the 18 people arrested when the case was filed, 2 were sent to jail after paying bail, and the remaining 16 were sent to jail for pre-trial detention. 12 people were absconding. Although some absconding individuals were later arrested, some accused are still absconding.

On May 9, 2081, a supplementary charge sheet was filed against Keshav Dulal and 5 others who were previously made defendants, and on July 4, 2081, against another suspect, Bechan Jha, on July 29, 2081. All three cases have been consolidated for hearing and order, except for the pre-trial detention hearing and order.

The bench of then District Judge Prem Prasad Neupane had ordered that the arrested individuals be kept in custody for pre-trial detention, deeming them