By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Sept. 10: The data issued by the Nepal Police show that the cases of fugitive arrest increased by 216.89 per cent in the fiscal year 2020/21 compared with the year before.
A total of 7,390 fugitives were arrested in 2020/21. That is a figure higher than that of last three years combined. The data shows 2,332 fugitives were arrested in 2019/20; 2,530 in 2018/19; and 2,139 in 2017/18.
According to the Nepal Police officers, the number of arrested fugitives shot up in the last fiscal year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Fugitives hiding in different parts of the country were also affected by the pandemic, because of which they came out of their hidings and were arrested,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basanta Bahadur Kunwar.
SSP Kunwar, who is also the central spokesperson for Nepal Police, informed that police units across the country organised special operations to nab fugitives and that they would give continuity to the initiative.
In the first month of the fiscal year 2021/22, Nepal Police has already arrested 1,119 fugitives from different parts of the country.
“The fugitives who had fled to India or other countries also returned home during the pandemic.

We keep records and continuously review the fugitives by coordinating with units across the country. Even those on the run for over a decade have been arrested,” said SSP Kunwar.
On August 29, the Morang District Police Office had arrested 50-year-old Sanjay Yadav, a resident of Biratnagar, 12 years after being convicted of human trafficking. He was arrested from his own house.
Yadav was sentenced to an 11-year jail term on June 2009.

“If we get proper intelligence and information about fugitives living abroad, we coordinate with Interpol and foreign counterparts to arrest and repatriate them,” SSP Kunwar said.
On April, Kaji Man Puri was repatriated from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following a red notice issued against him through the Interpol. He was found to have plotted the murder of his wife Binda Puri from the UAE.

The data also show that the arrested 7,390 fugitives had a total of over 4021 years to spend in prison. The police also helped collect revenue of Rs. 486 million in fine from the fugitives in 2020/21.