May 10: Nepali Congress leader and former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has been arrested in connection with the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.

Khan was arrested by the police from his residence in Maijubahal on Wednesday morning.

He is currently being detained at the District Police Range, Kathmandu.

Khand has denied any involvement in human trafficking and duping people promising to send them to the USA in the guise of Bhutanese refugees.

However, police have been making high-profile arrests in connection to this case based on statements given by conmen arrested earlier for duping people on the pretext of sending them to the US as Bhutanese refugees.

Other high-profile individuals arrested in this scam include former lawmaker Indrajit Rai, who was also the security advisor to the then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and former home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey.

Police have also issued arrest warrants against Ram Bahadur Thapa’s son Pratik and Indrajit Rai’s son Niraj along with UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and his son Sandeep.

All of them are accused of being involved in a racket that allegedly scooped millions of rupees from Nepali’s aspiring to go to the USA.

The group has been accused of misusing their authority and colluding with high-ranking government officials in creating fake documents.