Kathmandu, May 7
The Supreme Court has ordered the release of former chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Deep Basnyat, who is currently in judicial custody in connection with the notorious Baluwatar/Lalita Niwas land scam.
A division bench of justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Ananda Mohan Bhattarai issued the order on Friday to release him on Rs 500,000 bail.
Earlier last week, Basnyat had filed a habeas corpus petition at the court claiming the decision to keep him in custody was inappropriate.
He had said he was a 69-year-old heart patient, currently suffering from Covid-19 also, stating he should be released from a humanitarian perspective. And, the bench today agreed with him.
On December 14, 2020, the Special Court had sent Basnyat to judicial custody until the final verdict on one of the biggest corruption cases of current times.
Basnyat was one among 175 people the commission indicted for embezzlement while transferring various plots of land at Baluwatar of Kathmandu into individuals’ names. He was drawn to the case for his role as the secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure before the CIAA job.
