Fake Bhutanese Refugee Case: Nine Convicted of State Offense

Kathmandu. The Kathmandu District Court has convicted nine people, including former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, of state offense in the fake Bhutanese refugee case. The bench of Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka found Keshav Prasad Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Dr. Indrajit Rai, Bikram alias Govinda Kumar Chaudhary, Angtawa Sherpa, and Teknarayan Pandey guilty of organized fraud, as well as state offense and integrated offense.

Among those convicted, Govinda Kumar Chaudhary and Angtawa Sherpa were released on bail on April 26, 2024, by order of the Supreme Court. The district court has sentenced all nine convicted of state offense to 4 years in prison and a fine of 40,000 rupees under integrated offense.

Most of those convicted are in jail during pre-trial detention and will have to appeal to the Patan High Court while remaining in jail. Those convicted can also apply to the Patan High Court to fight the case while out on bail.

According to Section 137 of the Muluki Criminal Procedure Code, 2074, a person sentenced to less than 10 years can apply to a higher court to fight the case while out on bail.

Regarding the defendants including Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, the district court has sentenced them to less than 4 years, so they have the facility to apply to fight the case while out on bail, said advocate Kirtinath Sharma Poudel. Rayamajhi and 7 others, when appealing to the High Court against the district court's decision, must apply saying 'Allow me to fight the case while out on bail'. The final decision on whether to grant this permission or not rests with the High Court.

If the High Court allows them to fight the case from outside, they will have to provide bail or collateral as determined by the court. Former Home Minister Balkrishna Khand has already been released on bail by order of the High Court, but 7 people including Top Bahadur Rayamajhi have been in custody for pre-trial detention since the beginning.

In this case, while different sentences and fines have been imposed for various offenses, the integrated sentence has been determined by adding half of the second highest sentence to the highest sentence. The sentence and fine to be executed are only for the sentence and fine of the integrated offense, which is determined by adding half of the second highest sentence to the highest sentence.

The government had prosecuted the defendants for fraud, organized crime, state offense, and forgery of government documents. The prosecution's claim for integrated offense under Section 43(2) of the Muluki Criminal Code, 2074, was also part of the case. The Criminal Code provides for additional punishment for integrated offenses.

The code states that if a person commits more than one offense in the same incident, it is considered an integrated offense. When sentencing for integrated offenses, the sentence for the offense with the highest penalty and half of the sentence for the next highest penalty offense are added.

According to the verdict, former minister Rayamajhi has been sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 20,000 rupees for fraud, three years in prison and a fine of 30,000 rupees for organized crime, and two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 rupees for state offense. The integrated sentence for this is four years in prison and a fine of 40,000 rupees.

Similarly, former minister Balkrishna Khand has been sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 10,000 rupees for fraud, one year and six months in prison and a fine of 15,000 rupees for organized crime, and nine months in prison and a fine of 5,000 rupees for state offense. The integrated sentence for this is two years in prison and a fine of 20,000 rupees.

In the case of Rayamajhi and Khand, the offense of fraud was established under Section 249 of the Criminal Code. Clause 3(c) of this section provides for a maximum of seven years imprisonment for fraud, except in cases of fraud by impersonating one's name, rank, title, or qualification, or fraud against an institution wholly or partially owned by the government.

Narendra KC, Shamsher Mian, Haribhakta Maharjan, Niranjan Kumar Kharel, and Bechan Jha, who were found involved in this case, have been sentenced to 1 year in prison and a fine of 10,000 rupees. Narendra KC, Shamsher Mian, and Haribhakta Maharjan have 4 months of imprisonment remaining. Niranjan Kumar Kharel has 3 months and 21 days of imprisonment remaining. Bechan Jha has already served two years in prison and has no remaining jail time. Jha can only be released after the full verdict of the court is issued.

In the Bhutanese refugee case, on June 15, 2023, the bench of Kathmandu District Court Judge Prem Prasad Neupane sent former Deputy Prime Minister and then CPN-UML Secretary Rayamajhi, former Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Balkrishna Khand, then Home Secretary Pandey, and then Home Minister's security advisor Rai, former MP Sherpa, and Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rizal to jail for pre-trial detention.

Gang members Dulal, Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Rayamajhi's son Sandeep, Khand's personal secretary KC, Govindkumar Chaudhary, Ramsharan KC, then chairman of the Hajj Committee under the Home Ministry Mian, and mediator Maharjan were also sent to jail.

After the district court ordered pre-trial detention in the initial case, defendants including Rayamajhi and Khand appealed to the High Court in July 2023. Hearing the appeal, on November 30, 2023, the High Court overturned some of the district court's orders and released Haribhakta Maharjan, Narendra KC, Sandeep Rayamajhi, Teknath Rizal, and Ramsharan KC, who were sent for pre-trial detention, on bail, and Tank Gurung, Laxmi Maharjan, Ashish Budhathoki, and Keshav Tuladhar on bail and bail.

The case reached another bench after the opinions of High Court Patan judges Janak Pandey and Prakash Kharel differed on whether to uphold the district court's order to send former Home Minister Khand for pre-trial detention or release him on bail. On December 14, 2023, a single bench of Judge Krishnaram Koirala ordered Khand to be released on bail of 3 million rupees. The district court's order to send other defendants, including former Deputy Prime Minister Rayamajhi, for pre-trial detention was upheld. Rayamajhi and other defendants appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court's order.

On April 26, 2024, a joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Kumar Regmi and Balkrishna Dhungana upheld the orders of the two lower courts. The court ordered Angtawa Sherpa and Govinda Kumar Chaudhary to be released on bail and Shamsher Mian to be released on regular bail. In this case, the district court sentenced Mian to one year in prison and a fine of 10,000 rupees. Having served 8 months in prison, he has four months left to serve.

What is the Bhutanese Refugee Case?

Investigations revealed that an organized gang orchestrated the refugee scam by taking control of the Home Ministry's mechanism under the guise of managing the remaining number of Bhutanese citizens who were displaced from Bhutan and lived in camps in Jhapa and Morang in Nepal, as they were being resettled in third countries like the United States, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Finland, and Canada.

It was also revealed that the gang, by taking control of the ministry, ministers, and MPs, ran a racket of creating fake refugees by extorting money from youths to send 429 Nepalis in the first batch under the guise of refugees to the United States.

After Bhutanese refugees displaced in the 1990s settled in camps in Jhapa and Morang in eastern Nepal were resettled in countries like the United States, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Finland, and Canada, an organized gang forged the report of a study task force formed to manage the remaining approximately 6,500 refugees and extorted money from youths from Jhapa to Kanchanpur, creating fake refugees.

Investigations revealed that high-ranking government officials and employees were involved in the plan. The organized gang, by gaining control of the study task force's report and the Home Ministry's mechanism, hatched a conspiracy to send 429 Nepalis to the United States under the guise of refugees. The investigation was initiated after the crime was exposed.

The Bhutanese Refugee Case was Uncovered under the Leadership of Manoj KC

Manoj KC, then ASP of Nepal Police, was given charge of the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office on January 11, 2023. In the District Police Range Kathmandu, Dan Bahadur Karki was in charge. Both of them served as chiefs for only seven months. Balkrishna Khand became Home Minister on July 13, 2022. After he became Home Minister, Basanta Kunwar, who was then SSP, was made chief of the Crime Investigation Office on January 6, 2023. Kunwar remained the chief until June 21, 2023.

On May 21, 2023, 81 people filed complaints at the office alleging that they were defrauded of millions of rupees by promising to send them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. Gajendra Budhathoki and Ramkumar Regmi from Dang filed the complaint on behalf of the 81 people. Although Kunwar was the chief of the office, he showed no interest in the investigation. On May 24, 2023, arrest warrants were issued against Dulal and Gurung from the Kathmandu District Court. Although arrested, they were released. Meanwhile, Kunwar topped the list for promotion to DIG. After his promotion, Janak Bhattarai became the chief of the Crime Investigation Office on June 7, 2023. He was transferred elsewhere on December 14, 2023. No investigation into the Bhutanese refugees took place during his tenure. However, after Manoj KC was made the chief of the office, the investigation into fake Bhutanese refugees progressed.

Before Basanta Kunwar took the oath as IGP, on March 23, 2023, then SSP KC arrested three main accused in the case. Keshav Dulal, Tank Gurung, and Sanu Bhandari were arrested. Subsequently, during the investigation, names of former Home Minister Khand and former Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi were linked. After they were also arrested, the government led by then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' faced pressure to transfer KC. As they were in a government formed with the support of the Congress, KC and Karki were both transferred on August 20, 2023, due to the pressure. KC was assigned the responsibility of the Women, Children and Senior Citizens Directorate. Similarly, Karki was transferred to the Police Chief's Secretariat.