High court grants bail to former home minister Khand

KATHMANDU: The Patan High Court has issued an order for the release of former Home Minister Balkrishna Khand, who is in judicial custody of the Kathmandu District Court in connection with the fake Bhutanese refugees scam, on a bail bond of Rs. 3 million.

A single bench of High Court Judge Krishna Ram Koirala issued the order, according to Patan High Court spokesperson Tirtha Raj Bhattarai.

Previously, on December 1, the high court failed to decide on Khand’s bail plea, as the two presiding judges, Prakash Kharel and Janak Pandey, had differing opinions. While Pandey was for releasing Khand on bail, Kharel was in favor of denying bail.

The high court, however, has decided to uphold the district court’s verdict to keep former Deputy PM and CPN-UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, Sanu Bhandari, Keshav Dulal, Indrajit Rai, Sagar Rai, Govinda Kumar Chaudhary, Shandesh Sharma, and Ang Tawa Sherpa in judicial custody.