NIRJANA SHARMA
KATHMANDU, MAY 04 – Police have filed a case in Kathmandu District Court (KDC) against two lawmakers, charging them with misusing their diplomatic passports.
Lawmakers Gayatri Sah and Bishwa Nath Prasad Yadav, who have been made defendants under the Passport Act-1967, were arrested on April 19, for tampering with their passports numbered 019827 and 019893, respectively.
Punishment for their crime has been sought as per the act that states anyone found misusing their passport is slapped one year’s imprisonment or up to Rs 500 in fine or both.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested Sah (29) and Yadav (40) outside the Constituent Assembly building in New Baneshwor. Shah represents Nepal Janta Dal while Yadav is from Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal.
Prithvi Chhantyal and Sita Sah were arrested with the lawmakers’ red passports from Abu Dhabi airport while trying to go to Australia on the basis of those documents.
On April 27, CIB arrested Bhumi Nanda Bhandari, immigration officer at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), for his involvement in escorting those carrying the forged passports in and out of TIA. During an investigation, police found that Bhandari was on duty on Jan 16 and 18 to facilitate Chhantyal and Sah.
KDC has so far extended the lawmakers’ judicial custody three times–four, seven and four days, consecutively.