The District Court, Kathmandu has ordered to release 17 individuals including the Chairman of Managing Director of Bhatbhateni Super Market arrested in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab case on bail.

A single bench of Judge Bholanath Dhakal issued the order to release one of the 18 people to be released on a general date.

He also sought Rs 24. 6 million as a bail bond from Gurung, the operator of the Bhatbhateni Supermarket.

The hearing was started on September 3 after recording the statements of 18 persons were completed.

A case was filed against 312 defendants in the Lalita Niwas land scam.

A case of forgery of government documents was filed at the Kathmandu District Court against them.

The recording of the statements of the defendants, who were in custody, was started on August 28.

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The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has started the investigation based on the complaint registered by Mukunda Prasad Panta, Chief of the Summer Jung Company.

The CIB had submitted the report prepared after 57 days of investigation to the Attorney’s Office on August 22.

The Attorney’s Office filed the case at the Kathmandu District Court after studying the report on August 27.

The CIB gave final shape to the investigation after interrogating former prime ministers Baburam Bhattarai and Madhav Nepal among others involved in the case.

A total of 18 persons including Krishna Bahadur Raut, Secretary at the Communications Ministry, Gurung, operator of Bhatbhateni Supermarket, Sudhir Kumar Shah, former commissioner of the Election Commission and former government employees were apprehended in connection with the Lalita Niwas land scam.

The CIB had started investigating the case in 2019 in relation to forged documents and fake governmental stamps related to Lalita Niwas land transactions.