- The Kathmandu District Court sentenced 16 individuals, including high-ranking politicians, for their involvement in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.
- Former Deputy PM Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Tek Narayan Pandey received four-year prison terms and fines for being primary masterminds.
- Ex-Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand was sentenced to two years in prison as an accomplice in the multi-million-rupee resettlement fraud.
- The syndicate collected over NPR 288 million by tampering with government records to promise citizens U.S. resettlement under fake refugee statuses.
Kathmandu, Nepal: In the high-profile fake Bhutanese refugee scam involving senior political and administrative figures, the Kathmandu District Court has sentenced 16 individuals—including former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand—to imprisonment and fines.
A single bench led by Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka determined the sentences on Wednesday, basing them on the severity of the offenses and the individual roles of the defendants. Earlier, on July 7, the court found 15 out of 31 defendants guilty, acquitted 7, and put the cases against 8 others on hold.
According to the verdict, the primary masterminds—former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, and middlemen Keshav Dulal and Sanu Bhandari—were each sentenced to 4 years in prison and fined NPR 40,000. Co-defendants Sandesh Sharma, Angtawa Sherpa, Sagar Rai, and Govinda Kumar Chaudhary (alias Bikram) received identical sentences of 4 years in prison and a NPR 40,000 fine.
Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and Bhutanese refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal were both sentenced to 2 years in prison and fined NPR 20,000. The court handed Khand half the sentence of the primary convicts, ruling that his involvement was limited to that of an accomplice.
Dr. Indrajit Rai, former security advisor to then-Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa 'Badal', was also given a 4-year sentence. However, because he is over 75 years old, he received legal leniency under senior citizen provisions, reducing his active prison term to 3 years, 2 months, and 10 days. Additionally, Narendra KC, Shamsher Miya, Haribhakta Maharjan, and Niranjan Kumar Kharel were each sentenced to 1 year in prison and fined NPR 10,000.
While the court handed down separate sentences across multiple charges—including fraud, organized crime, and crimes against the state—Nepali legal provisions dictate that convicts will serve only the single longest prison term concurrently. However, the fines for each charge must be paid separately.
The multi-million-rupee scam came to light after the District Government Attorney's Office filed charges against 30 individuals for swindling Nepalese citizens with promises of resettling them in the United States under fake Bhutanese refugee statuses. The charge sheet stated that the racket illegally collected NPR 288.1 million from various victims.
The scheme originated in 2019 when a government task force, led by former Home Secretary Bal Krishna Panthi, was formed to collect details on unregistered Bhutanese refugees. Police investigations revealed that the syndicate tampered with the task force's official report by adding fake appendices containing the names of ordinary Nepali citizens. Driven by the prospect of moving to the U.S., 81 victims paid more than NPR 136.3 million to the ring.
The scheme began unraveling after victims filed formal complaints with the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office on June 1, 2022. As the police probe deepened, an intricate web linking sitting and former high-ranking officials, senior bureaucrats, and middlemen was exposed. With the court's latest ruling, a major chapter in prosecuting this severe abuse of state authority—which significantly tarnished Nepal's international reputation—has drawn to a close.
