Kathmandu, Feb 15: The Special Court has found 12 people guilty in the Lalita Niwas land embezzlement case. The bench of Special Court Judges Khushi Prasad Tharu, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Ritendra Thapa on Thursday found 12 people guilty in the land fraude and ruled that the land registered in the name of 65 people will be confiscated.
Dhan Bahadur Karki, the spokesperson of the special court, informed that it was decided that the defendant in the case related to the embezzlement of the land of Lalita Niwas will be fined. The court has also decided that the land will be confiscated from the defendant.
The court has convicted Ramkumar Subedi, Sobhakanta Dhakal, Min Bahadur Gurung (the owner of Bhatbhateni supermarket). Similarly, the then secretary of the Ministry of Land Reforms Chhabiraj Panta and the families of Dip Basnyat and Suwarna Shamsher have also been found guilty. Considering Kaladhar Deuja, Surendraman Kapali, Yukta Prasad Shrestha, Jagat Prasad Pudasaini as guilty, the special court has decided to confiscate the land registered in the name of 65 people through registration or gift.
It has decided to recover Rs 9.65 crore fine for embezzlement of 19 ropani land belonging to the then employees at Land Reform Office along with Chhabiraj Panta and Dip Basnyat.
The court acquitted the then physical infrastructure minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, the then land reform ministers Dambar Bahadur Shrestha and Chandradev Joshi in the case. The then secretary Dinesh Hari Adhikari was also acquitted by the court.
The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had registered a corruption case in the Special Court on Magh 22, 2076 BS mentioning that 113 ropani of Lalita Niwas’s government land had been made by individuals. The CIAA made 175 people including four former ministers and three former secretaries defendants. #Nepal
