145 complaints filed over US migration fraud

Kathmandu, Apr. 15: The number of victims filing complaints with the police after being deceived by agents on the pretext of taking them to the US as Bhutanese refugees with fake identity card is increasing. 

With the arrest of four persons, including Keshav Prasad Dulal, who was involved in the fraud, the victims have been filing complaints reaching the Valley Crime Investigation Office.

As of Friday, 145 people have filed complaints, head of the Valley Crime Investigation Office and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr. Manoj KC said. Dr. KC said that the number of complainants was likely to go up. Initially, 81 people had filed a complaint against the accused, including Dulal, at the Office. 

Dulal was the same guy who worked at the Secretariat of former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala. Dulal is a permanent resident of Pathari Sanischare-10, Morang, but he was recently found constructing a house in Dhapakhel-23, Lalitpur.

The conclusion of the police officers involved in the investigation is that when Dulal realised that he could not complete this task alone, he then started influencing the officials and secretariat of the Ministry of Home Affairs, when Ram Bahadur Thapa was in charge of the ministry. 

The Home Ministry is responsible for providing refugees card. The police investigation has revealed that Dulal influenced the then Home Minister Thapa 'Badal', and Indrajit Rai, his security advisor, and started preparing the refugee certificate.

Nine months ago, a complaint was registered in the police about fraud in the name of Bhutanese refugees. At that time, information reached the police office that Rai, his son Neeraj Rai, Sandesh Sharma, Keshav Prasad Dulal and Sanu Bhandari from Kathmandu had collected money to send people to America in the name of refugees. However, because of their high political connection, the police could not take any action against Rai and his family.

After a nine-month long investigation, the Valley Police Investigation Office arrested Dulal after discovering some facts about his actions.

After that complaint, the police arrested four other persons with proof. On March 26, police arrested Keshav Dulal, Tanka Gurung of Panchthar and Sanu Bhandari of Lalitpur on the charge of making fake refugee identity cards and sending people to America. 

Sagar Rai, a former ward chairman of Pathari Sanischare Municipality-10, was arrested on March 28. Sagar has given a statement that out of the money he raised from those who wanted to go to America, he handed over Rs. 700,000 to Bhutanese rightist leader Teknath Rijal.

The victims filed a complaint with the police for the first time on June 1, 2022, saying that they were cheated in the name of sending them to America by making refugee ID cards, said police. 

After the complaint was received, the accused escaped being arrested, saying high-ranking officials were involved in the case, police claimed. 

Police investigations have revealed that the accused have cheated Rs. 400 million so far. The District Public Prosecutor's Office took a statement from Tank Kumar Gurung among the arrested. Gurung, who runs a hotel in his own house in Lalitpur Dhapakhel, has given a statement that he was not involved in the scheme and only acted as a 'contact source'. Tank Gurung hails from Panchthar.

Transaction audio tape recovered

The police officers associated in the investigation team said that Sandesh Sharma, who hails from Dang, is the mastermind behind the fraud. The police have found an audio conversation between Sandesh Sharma and one of the victims who had transferred the money in the hope of going to America. 

Sandesh Sharma is heard telling the victim on the phone, "I have handed over the money to the leader and the minister's wife, I have the record of it."

When asked to return the money if they could not send people to America, Sharma said, “We have given money to the people who will do it, but the officials were bargaining with us in the name of forming different committees, and they are trying to prolong the process by transferring the Chief District Officer intentionally.”

The victims gave the audio to the police. It is said that if the contact of the accused with the name mentioned in the audio is established, they will also be investigated.

Rs. 500M collected from victims

The gang of Dulal and Sagar has raised from Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 2.5 million to Rs. 3.5 million from the victims saying that they will make them Bhutanese refugees and take them to America. From the initial investigation, police have concluded that Dulal's gang has so far collected more than Rs. 500 million from various people.

Valley Crime Investigation Office Chief SSP Dr. KC said so far the gang seemed to have raised Rs. 500 million in the name of taking them to America. 

However, it was not found that Sagar Rai and Sanu Bhandari’s gang had done a banking transaction of Rs. 5 million. Accused Sanu Bhandari was found to have deposited Rs. 3 million in the bank and only about Rs. 2 million in the name of Sagar Rai. 

An officer involved in the investigation said, "There is a problem in gathering evidence because there is no banking transaction as other deals involving a huge sum of money might have happened through direct cash."