The Supreme Court of Nepal is hearing a petition filed by former minister Rajkumar Gupta, seeking to overturn a special court order sending him into custody in a corruption case. The petition has been scheduled for hearing before a bench comprising Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Nrip Dhwaj Niraula.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had requested a factual report regarding Gupta’s petition. In the Lichhibari corruption case in Pokhara, the special court bench—headed by Chief Justice Sudarshan Dev Bhatt along with Justices Dilliratan Shrestha and Bidur Koirala—had ordered Gupta to be sent to custody for further investigation.
Gupta, who was then a minister, was accused of taking NPR 5.3 million in bribes from a land businessman in exchange for preventing the transfer of a chief officer at the Kaski Land Revenue Office and appointing him as a member of the Land Commission.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had alleged that Gupta and former minister Ranjita Shrestha colluded to misuse their positions to provide official favors in return for NPR 2.
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