May 4: Police have so far detained eight people for the investigation into their alleged involvement in swindling millions of rupees from people on the pretest of sending them to the United States of America in the guise of Bhutanese refugees.    
Spokesperson for the Nepal Police, Deputy Inspector General Kuber Kadayat said arrest warrants have been issued against some more people and the police have been searching for them after some high-profile arrests this week.    
The District Police Range, Kathmandu is looking after the case. So far 106 people from various districts have filed 20 complaints with the police against alleged swindling of a total of Rs 232.5 million, promising them to ensure their journey to the US as Bhutanese refugees. The police said though the figure of alleged victims is expected to be more than this, other people have not come into contact with the police yet.    
The police investigation has revealed a nexus of conmen with high-profile bureaucrats and politicians who have been engaged in the fake Bhutanese refugees scam since 2077 BS.    
A complaint against this was first registered at the Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB) Office last year. The main accused in the scam: Keshab Dulal, Sanu Bhandari and Tanka Gurung, were arrested on March 25, ten months after the registration of the complaint. After some days, Sandesh Sharma Pokhrel and Sagar Thuling were also apprehended.    
Based on their statements, the involvement of Home Ministry officials and the high-profile political leadership in the scam was also established, according to the preliminary investigation report of the police.    
The report and related documents were later handed to the District Police Range, Kathmandu by the CIB Office for further investigations and to undertake legal procedures on the case. The police on May 2 arrested Dr Indrajit Rai, the then political advisor to former Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and it followed the arrests of the then home secretary and incumbent secretary at the Office of the Vice President, Tek Narayan Pandey, and Sandeep Rayamajhi, son of former Energy Minister and the CPN (UML) secretary Top Bahadur Raymajhi.    
Police have already confiscated a cheque issued by a group of people involved in the scam mentioning Sandeep as the payee. A warrant has been issued against UML secretary Rayamajhi and Dr Rai's son Niraj as well. According to the police, Niraj is accused of receiving money from various hotels in Kathmandu.    
Niraj received thousands of rupees in commissions at various hotels in Kathmandu, according to a police source.

"Some other persons are also under investigations. They will be arrested after collecting evidence," said a police officer involved in the investigation.    
The racketeers are found to have made fake identity cards of Bhutanese refugees and related documents with the government logos addressed to the Ministry of Home Affairs, it has been found.    
They took between Rs 1.5 million and Rs 2 million each from their clients after making them fill out the forms. Their clients were those people aspiring to go to the United States.     
They would convince their clients that the process to send them to the US was in progress through a setting with high-ranking officials at the Home Ministry and the committee relating to the resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees. In the process of manipulating the alleged victims, the group used to show various documents relating to the Home Ministry, the Labour Ministry and the committee.    
The group is also accused of making the alleged victims visit various towns including Pathari, Belndangi, Biratnagar, Sauraha and Kathmandu in the name of collecting their biometrics. -- RSS