Former Minister Gupta and 6 Others Face Corruption Case Adjournment

Kathmandu. The corruption case against former Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Rajkumar Gupta and 6 others in the Pokhara land deal bribery case has been put on the 'to-be-heard' list. The case, which was scheduled for hearing by a bench of Special Court judges Narayan Prasad Koirala, Hemanta Rawal, and Umesh Koirala, was placed on the list of cases to be heard later. The corruption case involving former minister Gupta and others, listed as number 2 on the cause list, was postponed due to the lengthy deliberation on the bail hearing for the passport contract case.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a corruption case in the Special Court on October 22, 2082 BS, alleging that the then minister Gupta had received a bribe of 53 lakh rupees from a real estate businessman by promising to stop the transfer of the Chief Officer of the Land Revenue Office in Kaski and to appoint him as a member of the Land Commission. The CIAA had accused Minister Gupta and former minister Ranjita Shrestha of abusing their positions through mutual collusion and accepting a bribe of 25 lakh rupees to provide work facilities.

According to the CIAA, the evidence of bribery and corruption totaling 78 lakh rupees was confirmed through audio evidence, bank transaction details, and digital forensic examination reports. The digital forensic lab's examination concluded that the audio and video materials matched the defendants and had not been tampered with.

The CIAA had filed a corruption case against Minister Gupta and 7 others on October 22, 2082 BS. Former minister Ranjita Shrestha, who was then the chairperson of the Nagarik Unmukti Party, was also implicated in this case. The CIAA launched an investigation after an audio recording between the two was leaked. In the audio conversation with Minister Gupta, an intermediary was heard saying, 'Pokhara's land is waiting for you, put 25 (lakh) now, and we'll eat fish in Majhkuwa after the work is done.'