Kathmandu, Oct 9: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against seven individuals, including former Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Rajkumar Gupta, over alleged bribery in the Litchi Garden land case in Pokhara.

On Wednesday, the CIAA lodged the case at the Special Court in Kathmandu against Gupta, former Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ranjita Shrestha, Kaski Land Revenue Officer Ramchandra Adhikari, and middleman Sujan Kumar Tamang, who posed as a real estate agent. Additionally, Yam Kumari Gurung and Tulsiram Budha Magar were accused of being involved in a 7.8 million NPR bribery transaction.

The case concerns alleged bribes paid during the registration of the Deep Birta (Litchi Garden) property in Ward 16 of Pokhara Metropolitan City (formerly Batulechaur 1). According to court documents, the bribes were solicited after the legal heirs of Durgadevi Shah, including Suraj Shah Thakuri, applied to register the land in their names, and the middlemen manipulated the transaction.

An audio recording revealed that Minister Gupta initially took 5.3 million NPR in bribes and arranged a 2.5 million NPR deal to secure a position for a member in the Land Commission, prompting the CIAA investigation. The commission has set the total penalty for all seven accused at 7.8 million NPR.

Although Officer Adhikari had been transferred by the Land Management Ministry to Lamjung, Minister Gupta allegedly accepted 5.3 million NPR to prevent him from processing the Litchi Garden registration. After the bribe, the ministry reversed its decision and appointed Chiranjivi Paudel as Kaski’s Land Revenue Officer.

Following the registration of the Birta land, the middlemen had written an agreement on May 3, 2024, to take 40 percent of the land that was being registered in the names of Durgadevi Shah’s heirs.

People’s News Monitoring Service