Himal Press 
POKHARA: The Kaski District Court has remanded Shiva Bahadur Gurung, also known as Mahendra Bhote, and Bhavishwar Aryal, who were arrested for investigation into cooperative fraud, to judicial custody.
A single bench of District Judge Basanta Jung Thapa issued the order following a detention hearing on Wednesday.
Police have filed a charge sheet against 19 individuals at the district court for misusing money collected from the general public while they were involved with Suryadarshan Saving and Cooperative Ltd.
Gurung and Aryal surrendered to the police on Tuesday. While Gurung is the former board director of the cooperative, Aryal is the incumbent director. Vice Chairman of the Cooperative Kailash Kumar Darlami and Treasurer Kumar Ramtel are already in judicial retention, while 15 others are on the run.
In the chargesheet, the District Government Attorney’s Office, Kaski, has sought to recover Rs 1.11 billion from the 19 defendants and impose a prison term of eight to 10 years.
Founder chairman of the cooperative GB Rai, and former chairpersons Than Bahadur Budha Magar and Bhupendra Rai are still on the run. Police were preparing to issue a diffusion notice against the three and Mahendra Bhote. Bhote surrendered fearing arrest by the police.
The Secretary of the cooperative Dheeraj Kumar Das, Accounts Officer Srishti Manandhar, Credit Officer Buddhi Gurung, Members Hemanta Adhikari, Pramod Bhattarai, Anuj Nakarmi, Aishma Gurung, Kabita Tamang, Sagar KC, Lalita Tamang, Dinesh Roka, and Suraj Shrestha, among others, are on the run.
These 19 people have been charged with misusing the savings of 18,700 depositors. The promoters of the cooperative raised a significant sum of money from depositors and invested it elsewhere. They have stopped honoring checks since August last year.
After the cooperative ran into trouble, the police earlier in July asked depositors to file complaints. Responding to the police, a total of 1,036 people filed complaints against the cooperatives. After studying the complaints, arrest warrants were issued for founder chairman Rai and six others on September 10. Treasurer Ramtel was arrested two days later, while vice chairman Darlami was arrested earlier this week.
Police have begun a manhunt to arrest 15 absconding officials of the cooperative, according to Shrawan Kumar BK, the spokesperson for the District Police Office, Kaski.
According to a study report, Bhote had taken at least Rs 80 million from the cooperative. He, however, has told the police that he has proof of Rs 30 million transferred to Gorkha Media Network.
