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Nepali Congress has demanded resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane.

Speaking at the Parliament meeting today, lawmaker Pradeep Paudel said that Lamichhane should resign on moral grounds as questions have been raised against him.

“He should not have been the Home Minister with questions on him. The Prime Minister should not have appointed a person with questions as the Home Minister. People have been cheated in 31, 000 cooperatives. How can the victims’ problems be solved when the person under investigation is appointed as the head of the investigation department,” he questioned.

Saying that the Congress has been constantly raising questions in the Parliament, he alleged that the Prime Minister has been ignoring to answer them.

“Instead of facing the questions raised by the Congress for the past few days, he has been running away from them. The Prime Minister's double standard has been seen on this issue,” he said.

Leader Paudel said that the Congress will keep on raising questions until the Prime Minister gives satisfactory answers on the questions raised against the Home Minister.

Home Minister Lamichhane is accused of misappropriating the deposits of a cooperative.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane submitted a report of the probe commission on gold smuggling to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday.

Lamichhane reached Baluwatar this morning to submit the report to Prime Minister Dahal.

Probe commission Chairman Dilliram Acharya had submitted the report to Home Minister Lamichhane on Thursday.

Receiving the report, Home Minister Lamichhane said that stern action will be taken against those found guilty in the gold smuggling case.

The government in September had formed a probe commission to investigate the 60 kg gold smuggled from Hong Kong and the gold brought from Dubai by hiding in the electric cigarette ‘vape’.

The commission investigated the cases for almost five months.

Acharya said that a report of 485 pages has been prepared in 13 chapters.

The commission conducted field inspections of seven different customs checkpoints including Tribhuvan International Airport and Rasuwagadhi.

In the report, the commission has proposed the government to amend the existing laws to curb the gold smuggling and recommended various ways to improve the weaknesses seen in the investigation and prosecution of gold smuggling cases in the past.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has vowed full implementation of the agreement the government made with usury victims.

A four-point agreement was reached between the two sides. One among the agreement points is the formation of a probe commission.

Reaching the talks venue, DPM Lamichhane said the government was aware about the plights and rights of usury victims. Although the situation turned otherwise, the government was together with the victims for their rights, he reminded.

He, however, said the agreement was a beginning, so the struggle for rights could not stop here. The DPM also apologized to the victims of loan-shark, saying the long struggle took a toll on them.

According to him, the probe commission would furnish suggestions to the government, which would be a base for further action.

Moreover, the DPM shared that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was informed about the agreement. "Now the government shoulders the responsibility to enforce the agreement," he said.

Lamichhane, however, sought some days with the victims of extortionate money lending for enforcement of the pact. He also urged them to continue close watch.

As per agreement, a request will also be made to the Ministry of Finance to make necessary arrangements in the upcoming budget for financial aid, relief and compensation to the underprivileged class so that they do not fall victims to usury.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has directed police personnel to deliver in a way that each citizen could feel safe and secured.

Following his inspection to the Nepal Police Headquarters today, the Home Minister directed them to sue anyone in any incident on the basis of evidence, instead of the command from anywhere.

He asserted that investigation into any incident should be result-oriented and law should be applied to all equally. 

On the occasion, he also laid a wreath on the Police Martyrs Memorial inside the Nepal Police Headquarters.

The Deputy Prime Minister also visited a museum based in the Nepal Police Headquarters.

He also acknowledged the roles of former and incumbent police personnel who contributed to the building the police institution and promoting its image.

Urging police employees to fulfill the given responsibilities by abiding by law, he urged the institution to ensure career enhancement opportunities for its staff.

He highlighted the need of seeking help from technology and producing a skilled workforce to address crimes assisted by the technology.

He also instructed the police administration to address cases affecting women, children, aged citizens and the people with disabilities with special priority to ensure prompt justice to them.

Acknowledging the issues relating to usury and mismanagement of cooperatives as a grave challenge, the Home Minister urged the police administration to focus on controlling economic crime, fraud, cyber-crime and drugs smuggling.

Inspector General of Police, Basanta Kunwar, said the Nepal Police is committed to implementing the Home Minister's direction.