KATHMANDU, AUG 02
Suspended CPN-UML lawmaker Naradmuni Rana on Monday proved that like professional criminals, lawmakers also can go to any length to break the law.
First he dabbled in crime by misusing his diplomatic passport that cost him his CA membership and earned notoriety. Now Rana challenged the rule of law under detention by escaping from court premises.
Rana on Monday took to his heels from Kathmandu District Court (KDC) after the court granted bail of Rs 11,000. Hoodwinking the police, he ran away as soon as KDC judge Shekhar Prasad Poudel ordered his release provided that he deposited the bail.
“Rana might have escaped fearing the Commission for the CIAA and his rearrest,” said SP Kedar Rijal.
Earlier, two other suspended lawmakers Gayatri Sah and BP Yadav were re-arrested by the CIAA when a single bench of KDC judge Balendra Rupakheti ordered the release of the duo on bail.
Rana was elected in the CA on a CPN-UML ticket under the proportional representation system from Kailali. He was arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) on July 4 for possessing two diplomatic passports and selling one for Rs 1 million. The passport scam had come to fore in January after a Nepali man and woman going to Australia on the passports of Sah and Yadav with the photographs replaced were stopped at Abu Dhabi airport and sent back home.
Meanwhile, KDC ordered extension of the judicial custody of Piyush Bahadur Amatya for two more days. Amatya, owner of Pokhara-based Fulbari Resort and Spa and Amatya Enterprises, was arrested by the CIB after his former business partners lodged a complaint that he had defrauded them more than Rs 40 million.