KATHMANDU, June 28: It has been found that 143 ropanis of land of Lalita Niwas in Baluwatar has been transferred in the names of individuals at different times. The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police held a press conference on Wednesday and announced this by making the four persons arrested in connection with the case on Tuesday public.

The CIB yesterday arrested seven people for their involvement in the scam. However, the police freed three of them who had obtained a stay order from the court earlier. Among them are Surendraman Kapali, Kaladhar Deuja and Hupendra Mani KC.

Min Bahadur Gurung, 69, of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-6, Dharma Prasad Gautam, 80,  of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-7, Ratopul, Gopal Karki, 60, of Chandragiri Municipality-3 and Sudhir Shah, 68, of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-4 will be made public today.

According to Dinesh Acharya, an SSP  of the Bureau, they were arrested during the investigation of the case of embezzlement of the land of Lalita Niwas registered under the name of Nepal Government, Samarjung Company, which was acquired by the government of the then King by paying compensation in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act, 2018.

"In the name of returning the land to the Rana family, it has been found that the land has been embezzled by establishing fake mohi (land tenants) and guthi (trust)," he said, "There is no mohi or guthi on government land."

Chief of the Bureau, Additional Inspector General of Police Kiran Bajracharya said that they are working to conclude the investigation into the Lalita Niwas land grab scam, which has been under investigation for a long time. He said that after the file was returned from the public prosecutor's office, the bureau worked hard in the investigation.

 
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