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Special attention was drawn to the authority saying that there was inequality in the prosecution under corruption cases. The special court convicted 15 people as the bribe-taker along with the bribe-giver and sentenced.
In the case filed against 15 people including Arunraj Khanal, computer operator of Bheri Hospital in Banke, the bench of special chairman Srikant Paudel, two members Yamuna Bhattarai and Khushi Prasad Tharu gave this order on Monday.
The court convicted Arunraj Khanal, Madhav Prasad Acharya, Indra Bahadur Khatri, Prem Bahadur Khatri, Poornima Bhandari, Rajendra Kumar Soni, Kamaluddin Mukheri, Awanish Kumar Agarwal, Sudip Rizal, Izamuddin Khan, Abdul Ali Ansari, Sahid Hussain Halwai, Gyan Bahadur Wali Kshatri, Dipendra Agarwal , Pankaj Kumar Shrestha in the crime bribe giver and bribe taker.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a bribery case on 8 October 2020 (B.S. 22 Ashoj 2077), making 15 people including computer operator Khanal as defendants. During the investigation in this case, it was found that 11 people took bribes and four people gave bribes.
After that, the CIAA filed a corruption case against only 11 people. However, the Special Court has sentenced all those who provided bribes to Bheri Hospital employees as corruption cases.
According to the court verdict, Purnima Bhandari, the owner of Nepal Store, who bribed the employees, will be fined 45 thousand rupees and imprisoned for three months, and Dipendra Agarwal, the owner of Kamala International, will be fined 36 thousand rupees and imprisoned for three months.
Similarly, Abdul Ali Ansari will be fined 56,000 bigos and Pankaj Kumar Shrestha will be fined 61,000 rupees, it is mentioned in the verdict. Both of them have been sentenced to four months in prison. Gyan Bahadur Wali has also been given the same imprisonment and a fine of 96,000 rupees. Likewise, Sahit Hussain Haluwai was fined 20,000 rupees and sentenced to one month in prison.
The decision was taken by the court on the evidence of warrants, affidavits made during the investigation, details of the commission kept by Arun Khanal on Google Drive, and court papers.
The investigation was started after an amount equal to 16 lakh 13 thousand nine hundred and 75 rupees and a check was recovered from the office of Khanal, a computer operator working in the hospital. The authority’s investigation showed that Khanal took money from various firms and shops as a commission.
Along with computer operator Khanal, accounting officer Madhav Prasad Acharya, accountant Indra Bahadur Khatri and associate accountant Prem Bahadur Khatri were made defendants. During the investigation, it was seen that they took bribes of 19 lakh 13 thousand 70 rupees from various firms and shops for the financial year 2019/20 (B.S. 2076-77).
The special court gave a verdict after two years and divided the total amount of Rs 17 lakh 80 thousand 475 into four parts and set fines. According to the verdict, Kamaluddin Mukeri has been sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and a fine of 161,000 rupees, while Avnish Kumar Agarwal has been sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and a fine of 118,600 rupees. Sudeep Rizal and Izamuddin Khan have been sentenced to a fine of 60,000 each and four months imprisonment each.
The special court has also drawn the attention of the CIAA to the fact that some of the perpetrators of similar acts have been prosecuted and others have not been prosecuted. In this case, according to the demand of the CIAA, everyone has been found guilty. The bench has drawn the attention of the authority to the matter of cleanliness and equality not being maintained.