Four held for robbing by faking a land sell

By Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel,Damak, Apr. 16: Four individuals have been arrested from different parts of Ilam and Jhapa districts for fleeing with Rs. 3.2 million by faking a land selling deal.

According to the Jhapa District Police Office, Bishnu Maya Sapkota Subedi, a resident of Urlabari, Morang, was called to the bus park area in Birtamod, Jhapa, to show two katthas of land as she was looking for land to buy.

Subedi was called to Birtamod by Bijay Rai, a resident of Ward No. 5 of Kamal Rural Municipality in Jhapa, with the cash to pay in advance to buy the land. 

Since Rai and Subedi knew each other, Rai had staged a plan where he showed Subedi a land of someone else at a cheap price by staging a fake landlord.

“Ran Bahadur Pokhrel, a 32-year-old of Ward No. 5 of Kamal Rural Municipality, was staged as the landlord. The amount was given to Pokhrel and Rai’s team in the presence of local Anil Bishwokarma,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Khagendra Prasad Rijal.

DSP Rijal, who is also the spokesperson for Jhapa District Police Office, informed that Subedi was called at a hotel with the money. 

“No agreement was signed when Subedi gave the money. When the group left with the money and Subedi felt suspicious, she contacted the police,” said DSP Rijal.

Police informed that there were four individuals involved in the planning alongside Rai and Pokhrel.

“During investigation, we found Rai and Pokhrel in a hotel in Ward No. 11 of Arjundhara Municipality in Jhapa with Rs. 1.3 million. Two others – Rajesh Shrestha and Janak Regmi – were arrested from a hotel nearby the old bus park in Ward No. 7 of Ilam Municipality in Ilam district on Friday with Rs. 1.4 million,” said DSP Rijal.

Police informed that the group had spent around Rs. 400,000 from the Rs. 3.2 million robbed from Subedi.

DSP Rijal added that necessary legal process and further investigation were initiated against the four individuals.