Kathmandu, May 7: A fraud case has been filed against 17 individuals, including Rita Singh Baidya, the Chairperson of Nepal Children’s Organization and also the sister of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development Prakashman Singh, in connection with the controversial leasing of land belonging to the Bal Mandir (Children’s Home) in Naxal, Kathmandu.
The District Government Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu, filed the case at the Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday against former officials of the Nepal Children’s Organization and Brihaspati Bidya Sadan School.
The accused include former vice president of the organization Tulsi Narayan Shrestha, former general secretaries Ganesh Bhakta Shrestha, Shyam Kumar Ale, Subash Kumar Pokhrel, Prachanda Raj Pradhan, and Ramkaji Gurung.
Also charged are former executive committee member Krishna Shankar Sah, former vice president Yogendra Bahadur Shahi, deputy treasurer Deepak Das Shrestha, Brihaspati Bidya Sadan director Praveen Raj Joshi, former directors Murari Nidhi Tiwari and Purushottam Raj Joshi, and administrator Shraddha Sanghai. Three Indian nationals—Abhinav Singhania, Siddhartha Kedia, and Kirti Prasad Pandey—who were directors of Bhrikuti at the time, have also been named as defendants.
The government attorney’s office has invoked the former Land Code’s fraud chapter as well as Section 249 of the current Civil Criminal Code, 2074 (2017). Under the code, fraud is punishable by up to seven years in prison and fines of up to Rs 70,000. If the financial damage is quantifiable, the offender must also compensate the victim accordingly.
The indictment demands restitution of Rs 603,977,231.05 (over 603 million rupees) for financial damages inflicted on Nepal Children’s Organization.
Three other individuals linked to the case—former chair of Brihaspati School Chiranjivi Tiwari, former treasurer of the Children’s Organization Manohar Gopal Shrestha, and former deputy general secretary Suman Shakya—have died, so no charges have been pursued against them.
The disputed land had been designated by the government during the Panchayat era for the care and shelter of orphaned children. In 2049 B.S., the Nepal Children’s Organization leased the Bal Mandir land to Brihaspati Sadan. The lease was extended several times, and in 2072 B.S., a supplementary agreement extended the lease until 2131 B.S.
Following a complaint filed by the Children’s Organization, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police completed its investigation and submitted a report to the government attorney’s office. Based on this report, the Office of the Attorney General decided to proceed with the fraud case. #corruption #nepal
