Teknath Rizal, Hajj body chief Miya arrested

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, May 19: Leader of the Bhutanese refugees Teknath Rizal has been arrested.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dan Bahadur Karki of Kathmandu District Police Range said that Rizal was arrested after police investigation also showed his alleged involvement in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.

According to SSP Karki, Rizal was brought to Kathmandu from Jhapa on Thursday afternoon. 

In recent years, Rizal has been demanding a solution to the problem of more than 6,000 Bhutanese refugees remaining in the different camps in Jhapa who are yet to be resettled.

Based on his demand, the Ministry of Home Affairs had formed a working group under the leadership of the then Joint Secretary Balkrishna Panthi on June 13, 2019 to solve the Bhutanese refugee problem.

Sanu Bhandari, who was arrested on charges of involvement in the fraud business of sending Nepali citizens to the United States as Bhutanese refugees, had mentioned in his diary that he had given Rs. 700,000 to Rizal. 

Police sources claimed that he was arrested based on the statements and some proofs provided by Bhandari during the initial investigation of the case. 

Born on February 16, 1948, in Lami Dada of Bhutan, Rizal is one the top leaders of Bhutanese refugees, and a political and human rights activist in Bhutan. Rizal has struggled for the sake of about 100,000 Bhutanese refugees who lived for a long time in camps in Nepal. He was also imprisoned by the government of Bhutan from 1989 to 1999 at the Chamgang jail. 

Meanwhile, Chairman of Nepal Hajj Committee (NHC), Shamsher Miya, alleged to have been involved in the fake Bhutanese refugees scam, has been arrested.

On Thursday, a team of police deployed from the Kathmandu District Police Range arrested Chairman Miya from inside the premises of Singh Durbar, the government’s main administrative hub, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and chief of Kathmandu Police Dan Bahadur Karki.

Miya was arrested just in front of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources while he was entering there. Although, the Secretariat of Hajj Committee is at the Ministry of Home Affairs, he has been working from the Energy Ministry for past few months out of fear of his arrest, said police. “Some official documents have also been recovered from Miya after he got caught,” said SSP Karki. Call detail records and other technical aspects also established Miya’s contact and connection with the middlemen, claimed police.

It has been revealed that the government vehicle used by Miya was used to transfer money by those involved in the scam for visiting many districts, including Chitwan and Dang.

Miya was arrested by the police based on the statement of the arrested accused in the scam. 

Miya, who was connected with the middlemen of the case through the then Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, gave the vehicle taken from the Ministry of Home Affairs to Sanu Bhandari of Lalitpur and Keshav Dulal of Morang, said police.

The accused had said during the statement that they used Miya's government vehicle to smuggle money collected from victims. The police have already impounded the official vehicle that Miya was riding in.

Hailing from Balkot-8 of Arghakhanchi, Miya was appointed to the chairman post of Hajj Committee during the term of former Home Minister and CPN-UML Vice-chairman Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal on January 13, 2019. The Kathmandu Police will present him to the District Court, Kathmandu seeking remand order for further investigation, said police. 

With the arrest of Rizal and Miya, the total number of people arrested in connection with the scam reached 16 as of May 18.