SC paves way for police to probe former PMs Nepal and Bhattarai

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has paved the way for the police to initiate investigations against former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai in the Lalita Niwas land grab scam on organized crime and forgery charges.

A division bench of Justices Anil Kumar Sinha and Dr Kumar Prasad Chudal issued the order.

Observing that the ongoing investigation has focused only on those who executed decisions, rather than those who made the decisions, the bench ruled that the investigation should commence from the top of the hierarchy, encompassing individuals involved in formulating decisions taken by four cabinet meetings held on April 11, 2010, May 14, 2010, August 13, 2010, and October 4, 2012.

The first three of those cabinet meetings were presided over by Madhav Kumar Nepal, who served as the Prime Minister between May 25, 2009, and February 6, 2011. Similarly, the final fourth meeting was chaired by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, who led the government from August 29, 2011, to March 14, 2013.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had refrained from charge sheeting Nepal and Bhattarai when it filed cases against 175 individuals at the Supreme Court on February 5, 2020, stating that the cabinet was beyond its jurisdiction.