Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Secretary and former minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi has gone ‘missing’ after an arrest warrant for him was issued on Wednesday. Rayamajhi was expected to return to Kathmandu the following day but has since gone missing. The police have taken Rayamajhi’s son, Sandeep, into custody and secured a three-day remand for him.
Rayamajhi attended a function in Argakhanchi on Wednesday and was scheduled to return to Kathmandu by flight on the same day. According to sources, Rayamajhi canceled his flight ticket stating that he would travel to Kathmandu by road. He left Argakhanchi in a car with the registration number ‘Province 3 3-01-22 Cha 0582’. But the car arrived in Kathmandu empty.
“Based on the information we have, it appears that he sent his personal security officer and car to Kathmandu and got off the car midway somewhere. We are unaware of his whereabouts,” said DIG Kuber Kathayat, the spokesperson for the Nepal Police. “A search operation is currently underway to locate him.”
Sources report that the police had been informed that Rayamajhi would surrender to them on Thursday afternoon. But he did not show up. The police have now intensified search for Rayamajhi.
Why are the police looking for Rayamajhi?
The police are trying to arrest Rayamajhi as part of their investigation into a racket that swindled hundreds of people out of tens of millions of rupees by promising to send them to the US under the guise of Bhutanese refugees. The police sought the district court’s permission to arrest Rayamajhi as part of their investigation.
During Prime Minister Oli’s tenure, the Ministry of Home Affairs formed a committee led by Joint Secretary Bal Krishna Panthi to prepare a report on Bhutanese refugees residing in Nepal. The committee submitted its report to the home ministry, but it was not made public. However, the racket behind the fraud inserted the names of hundreds of Nepalis on the list of Bhutanese refugees awaiting resettlement.
Police investigations have revealed that the fraudsters swindled amounts ranging from Rs 1-5 million from 875 people by promising to send them to the US as Bhutanese refugees. Nearly 100,000 Bhutanese refugees have already been resettled in the US.
Who has been arrested?
After hundreds of people filed complaints stating that they had been cheated out of millions of rupees, the police took action against the racket and made several arrests. Initially, Keshav Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Thulung Rai, Tanka Gurung, and Sandesh Sharma Pokharel were arrested. Based on their statements, the police also arrested Indrajit Rai, who was a security adviser to Ram Bahadur Thapa when he served as the home minister, and Rai’s son, Niraj. An arrest warrant has been issued for Thapa’s son, Pratik.
On Wednesday, based on their statements, the police arrested Tek Narayan Pandey, who was the secretary at the Office of the Vice President and was deputed at the home ministry for almost 15 months.
