Advocate Neupane moves SC demanding former PMs Nepal and Bhattarai be indicted in Lalita Niwas land grab scam

KATHMANDU, Feb 12: Senior advocate Bal Krishna Neupane has moved the apex court demanding former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai be indicted in the Lalita Niwas land grab scam challenging the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)’s decision.

In the writ petition, Neupane has demanded the CIAA implicate the former prime minister for their involvement in illegally transferring the land at Lalita Niwas, Baluwatar to the name of various private individuals.

The petition comes a week after the anti-graft body filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 175 individuals including Nepali Congress Deputy-Parliamentary Party leader Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and three former ministers, while exonerating the ex-PMs, Nepal Communist Party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel and ex-Supreme Court Justice Kumar Regmi.

The CIAA has said it did not charge-sheet Nepal and Bhattarai as policy decisions made by the cabinet do not fall under its jurisdiction.