Mahara remanded for four days

KATHMANDU: The Kathmandu District Court has granted the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police permission to keep CPN (Maoist Center) Vice Chairman Krishna Bahadur Mahara in custody for four days for investigation.

Although the Kathmandu District Government Attorney’s Office had requested a seven-day remand for Mahara, the court authorized CIB to detain Mahara for only four days.

Police arrested Mahara from Kapilvastu on Monday morning and brought him to Kathmandu for questioning regarding gold smuggling through Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). Sources say he was en route to Rolpa when he was arrested.

A high-level commission formed to study gold smuggling through TIA has recommended that the government charge Mahara in the case.

Mahara’s son, Rahul, is already in judicial custody as part of the gold smuggling investigation. Mahara has publicly stated that he communicated with officials from the TIA Customs Office after a ‘shipment of fruits brought by his Chinese friend’ was confiscated by customs.