Kathmandu, October 6
A committee has been formed to investigate Armed Police Force (APF) Additional Inspector General (AIG) Banshiraj Dahal, who was suspended on allegations of leaking confidential information.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said AIG Anjanikumar Pokharel, who works at the Human Resources Department of the APF Headquarters in Halchowk, has been assigned responsibility for the investigation. He is the sole member of the committee.
“A responsibility has been assigned to conduct the investigation in accordance with the relevant provision of the APF regulations,” a Home Ministry source said.
Dahal had gone to meet former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana when the latter was arrested and taken to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office in Teku. Dahal is also alleged to have had connections with another middleman from Jhapa and to have leaked confidential information.
He has been given three days to complete the investigation. The ministry said further action would be initiated based on the report submitted within the deadline.
Dahal, who has been suspended, was serving as chief of the APF Border Security Department. Had his tenure not been extended by the government, he would have been due to retire at midnight on October 13.
Under Section 65(c) of the Armed Police Force Regulations, 2015, the tenure of an APF AIG is four years. Dahal was promoted to AIG on May 11, 2022. Under this provision, he was scheduled to retire at midnight on May 10, 2026.
However, Sub-rule (2) of Section 65(c) of the regulations allows the government to extend an AIG’s tenure by one year beyond the four-year term on the recommendation of the IG of the APF.
Accordingly, the APF Headquarters had recommended to the Home Ministry that Dahal’s tenure be extended by one year. In the meantime, he was suspended over allegations of leaking confidential information.
