The district court’s decision to release Lal Bahadur BK, who had been in custody for the past seven months on charges of unauthorized banking, financial fraud, and deception, was approved by the appellate court in Biratnagar, as per information provided by the court’s spokesperson, Nidhiram Dahal.
On Tuesday, the joint bench of Justice Bipul Neupane and Milan Kumar Rai of the Itahari Sub-Metropolitan-20 issued a full acquittal for Lal Bahadur, also known as Gopal, accused in the SunSari district court’s judgment from the previous month, which sentenced him to one and a half years in prison, a fine of 70,000 rupees, and confiscation of property worth three million rupees. The earlier verdict had faced widespread criticism for alleged injustice.
Lal Bahadur, hailing from a humble family, returned to Nepal ten years ago after working in Dubai, and he was involved in managing Singhadevi Jewelers. He and his family were accused of involvement in a million-dollar scam, which was officially reported at the local police office in Itahari on Jestha 20, 2075.
He was known to collect money from many individuals, promising them attractive interest rates, and used to keep fake account books with millions of rupees in the names of depositors. However, the victims never received the promised interest, and even though a significant sum was collected, none of the affected individuals has been able to claim their money. Upon receiving complaints, the police started investigating, leading to the arrest of Krishna Vishwakarma, Deepak Vishwakarma, and Sita Vishwakarma. Lal Bahadur was apprehended later in the same sequence.
Sabin Ghimire is the reporter who was with this case for last 6 months.
We respect and appreciate the help done by Sabin Ghimire and Sobita Gautam.
