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Baluwatar land scam: Bijaya Gachhadar says the CIAA ‘framed’ him

Nepali Congress leader Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar

Kathmandu, August 11

The ruling Nepali Congress leader Bijaya Gachhadar says the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority framed him by dragging him into the notorious Baluwatar land scam.

Gachhadar is facing a trial for his alleged involvement in the scam, one of the biggest corruption cases of the country.

Speaking at a function organised in Kathmandu on Wednesday, the former deputy prime minister said he was accused of corruption as the commission wanted to delete his political history.

“How can a physical infrastructure and transport minister distribute land registration certificates?” he questioned.

He claimed there were some errors in the law related to the commission, adding the government under his party president Sher Bahadur Deuba should correct them.

Gachhadar was released by submitting a Rs 1 million bail last month.

On March 6, 2020, the court had issued a summons calling Gachhadar to the court in the next 15 days in connection with his alleged role in the notorious scam. He, however, had refused to receive the summons whereas the police were also saying they could not find his whereabouts.

But, one day after his party boss Sher Bahadur Deuba was sworn in as the prime minister, Gachhadar had gone to the court in response to the summons. Upon his presence, the court heard the case and released him on bail.

On February 5, 2020, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, the anti-corruption constitutional body, had indicted the then opposition leader among three former ministers, 57 former or current government officials, and 115 former and current owners and users of the land in one of the biggest corruption cases of the country.

Claiming that Gachhadar incurred a loss of Rs 96.5 million, the commission in its writ petition has demanded that he pay the money and serve a jail sentence for eight to 10 years.

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