Kathmandu, 11 November, 2024, Former Minister of Internal Affairs and Law of Koshi Province, Lilaballabh Adhikari, and 7 others are under investigation by the police for two offenses. The District Police Office, Kathmandu, has obtained permission from the court to detain them for investigation on two charges. The police are investigating them under Section 4, Subsection 2 (g) of the Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act, 2064, and the offense related to documents under the Criminal Code, 2074.

The District Court, Kathmandu, has granted permission to detain Minister Adhikari for two days. The police had already obtained permission to detain the six previously arrested individuals until Monday, so the same date has been set for Minister Adhikari, according to District Police Office spokesperson SP Navaraj Adhikari.

Before arresting the former minister, the police had already arrested three individuals who had traveled to Japan with him and three others involved in preparing fake documents and sending people to Japan by taking money.

Initially, Janak Rai (41) from Kepilasgadhi Rural Municipality-4, Khotang, Dawa Sherpa (37) from Aiselukharka Rural Municipality-2, Khotang, and Kanchan Devkota (21) from Kalika Rural Municipality-5, Rasuwa, were arrested by the Immigration Department from the airport in Japan.

During the investigation after arresting them from the airport, the involvement of additional individuals was revealed. Among them, three more individuals have been arrested by the police.

The arrested individuals are Mahesh Pandey (34) from Tripurasundari Rural Municipality-6, Dhading, Jugal Rijal (22) from Bidur Municipality-7, Nuwakot, and Bir Bahadur Sunuwar (30) from Jiri Municipality-9, Dolakha.

Minister Adhikari, who is also the Minister of Internal Affairs and Law of Koshi Province, had reached Narita International Airport via Hong Kong with three youths to participate in the ‘International Conference on Open Access to Culture 2024’ in Japan.