Former Home Minister Balkrishna Khand's Lawyer Argues Against Treason Charge in Bhutanese Refugee Case

Kathmandu. In the fake Bhutanese refugee case, lawyers on behalf of former Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Balkrishna Khand have argued that the attempt to keep the details of Bhutanese refugees limited and organized was being made into a treasonous act.

Advocate Pankaj Kumar Karna stated that it is not appropriate to make former minister Khand a traitor for making a decision to organize Bhutanese refugees and keep records of their births and deaths.

In the hearing taking place in the bench of Kathmandu District Court Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka, lawyers representing the defendants have been arguing for a week. On Thursday, advocate Karna on behalf of Khand argued that an attempt was made to keep track of Bhutanese refugees.

"It seems the decision was made so that other individuals would not try to become refugees," Karna said. "Since the names of the refugees have already been collected in the data, and the track record of all has been established, there is no possibility for a second person to go."

He argued that the case against Khand was filed solely based on the statement of Premraj Panthi on Jestha 1, 2080. "Premraj Panthi and Keshav Dulal, whom Balkrishna Khand does not know at all. He has not even seen them. These are just documents prepared to file the case. Looking at the facts, it cannot be proven from anywhere," advocate Karna said in the court. "The case has been filed by misusing Balkrishna Khand to save the complainant Gajendra Budhathoki."

This case, in which a large amount of money was extorted by making Nepali citizens into fake Bhutanese refugees and sending them to countries like America, has been undergoing its final hearing for a week after three years. The charge sheet claims that Nepali citizens were made Bhutanese refugees as part of a plan by an organized gang by preparing fake documents. The case was filed in the district court and heard after almost three years on five charges including organized crime.

On Jestha 10, 2080, a case was filed in the Kathmandu District Court 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 Angtava 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.

Among the 18 arrested during the investigation, the District Government Attorney's Office Kathmandu filed a case against Rayamajhi, Khand, then Secretary Pandey, former Home Minister's advisor Rai, as well as Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rizal, gang members Keshav Prasad Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, former minister Rayamajhi's son Sandeep Rayamajhi, and former Home Minister Khand's private secretary Narendra KC as defendants.

Similarly, Govind Kumar Chaudhary, Ramsharan KC, former MP Angtava Sherpa, then Chairman of the Hajj Committee under the Home Ministry Shamsher Mian, and broker Haribhakta Maharjan were also made defendants. On Asar 1, 2080, District Judge Prem Prasad Neupane's bench sent them to jail for pre-trial detention. Tank Gurung, one of the defendants in the case, was released on bail of 1 million rupees and Laxmi Maharjan on 500,000 rupees.

The following year, on Chaitra 9, 2081, a supplementary case was filed in court against gang member Keshav Dulal and 5 others based on the complaint of Dawa Furi Sherpa. After the case reached the court, Pratik Thapa, son of Ram Bahadur Thapa, one of the defendants, was arrested on Asar 14, 2081. He is also currently in jail during pre-trial detention.

During the investigation, police arrested another suspect in the refugee case, Bechan Jha, from the Nepal-India border area in Kanchanpur and brought him to Kathmandu. An investigation was conducted, and another supplementary prosecution was filed against him in court on Shrawan 29, 2081. Some of the defendants in the initial case are still absconding.

After the district court sent them to jail for pre-trial detention, the defendants appealed to the Patan High Court against it in Shrawan 2080. Hearing the appeal, on Mangsir 15, 2080, the High Court released Haribhakta Maharjan, Narendra KC, Sandeep Rayamajhi, Teknath Rizal, and Ramsharan KC, who were in pre-trial detention by the district court's order, on bail, and Tank Gurung, Laxmi Maharjan, Ashish Budhathoki, and Keshav Tuladhar on simple bail.

Following the High Court's order, Rayamajhi was released on bail of 3 million rupees, Rizal, Maharjan, and Ramsharan KC on 1.5 million rupees each, and Narendra KC and Shamsher Mian on 1 million rupees each.

Regarding former Home Minister Khand, as the opinions of High Court Judges Janak Pandey and Prakash Kharel differed on whether to uphold the district court's order to keep him in pre-trial detention or release him on bail, Judge Krishnaram Koirala's bench ordered Khand to be released on bail of 3 million rupees on Mangsir 28, 2080. The High Court upheld the district court's order to send the remaining defendants, including Rayamajhi, for pre-trial detention.

Although the prosecution in the district court mentioned that an investigation should also be conducted by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation against the defendants, Khand, who was released on bail by the High Court's order, was presented to the Department of Money Laundering Investigation and released after paying a bail of 1.5 million rupees.

Meanwhile, after the High Court ordered the remaining defendants, including former Deputy Prime Minister Rayamajhi, then Secretary Pandey, and former Home Minister's advisor Rai, to be sent for pre-trial detention, they appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court's order. The bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Tekprasad Dhungana heard the case and on Chaitra 13, 2081, ordered Angtava Sherpa and Govind Chaudhary to be released on bail and Mian on simple bail, while ordering Rayamajhi, Pandey, Bhandari, Dulal, Sandesh, Indrajit, and Sagar Rai to be sent to jail. They are currently in prison. Pratik, arrested after the case was filed in court, and Jha, who was made a defendant in the supplementary prosecution, are also in prison.