Police admit they could not arrest absconding dons
KATHMANDU, MAY 21:
Now that the five notorious dons have been chargesheeted, the question that needs an answer is will they be sent to the clink. If what Nepal Police says is anything to go by, the answer is: Fat chance!
Police admitted to THT that they were ‘unable to arrest and produce four of the five dons before Special Court’ as sought by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, the agency that prosecuted Ganesh Lama, Parshuram Basnet, Chakre Milan, Dipak Manange and Abishekh Giri, charging them with laundering millions of rupees. “They are absconding so we could not arrest and produce them in court,” Keshav Adhikari, Spokesperson, Nepal Police said. “DMLI and we had carried out search operations separately before the case was filed, but we could not track them down,” said Adhikari.
“The accused should have been brought to court when the chargesheet was filed against them,” Dhir Bahadur Chand, Registrar, Special Court, told THT. But that was not the case and the general public have already started asking questions why they have not been arrested yet.
According to DMLI chargesheet, Lama faces charges of accumulating Rs 270.1 million, Basnet Rs 116.01 million, Manange Rs 147.03 million and Giri of amassing Rs 29.4 million without known legal sources. Chakre Milan is doing time in Dillibazaar Prison on charges of amassing Rs 78 million.
Political patronisation?
Reports of late have been rife that political patronisation of criminals have reached alarming propositions. Of the five gangsters who have been chargesheeted for amassing wealth through commission, extortion and other criminal activities, two are full-time party workers of the two influential political forces and are said to be close to former deputy prime ministers of the country. Ganesh Lama is a central committee member of Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic. He is said to have ‘cosy relations’ with MJF-D Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar. Similarly, Parshuram Basnet is a member of the CPN-UML and allegedly close to senior UML leader KP Sharma Oli, also a former deputy prime minister and home minister.
Court issues summons
The Special Court on Monday issued summons to the dons against whom the Department of Money Laundering Investigation has filed the chargesheet. “Notices have been issued in their names giving them 15 days to appear before the court,” Dhir Bahadur Chand, Registrar, Special Court, said. “They need to appear in court in person to defend their cases.” If the accused fail to appear in court within the given time frame, the court can proceed with the case and go ahead with its verdict. Once the verdict is passed, it is up to the law-enforcement agency to execute the verdict. Ironically, police have admitted to have failed to arrest the ‘absconding dons’.
Source: THT
