The Special Court has found 87 individuals, including 11 public officials, guilty in the Tikapur land irregularities case.
The court ruled that 11 officials from the Urban Development Committee and 76 individuals who received land were guilty, bringing the total number of convicts to 87.
The court found guilty the Chairman of the Tikapur Urban Development Committee, Netra Prasad Joshi; Subcommittee Coordinator, Ganesh Singh Rawal; and members Shyam Khatri, Bam Bahadur Bam, Devendra Bahadur Kunwar, Padam Raj Neupane, Khadga Bahadur Shah, Ambadatta Joshi, Chief of Planning Bal Bahadur Kadayat, Survey Officer Man Bahadur Chand, and Land Revenue Officer Jay Bahadur Bista, among others.
The bench comprising Special Court Chair Tek Narayan Kunwar and members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Ritendra Thapa sentenced the convicts to one and a half months in prison and fined them NPR 1.37 million each. All other accused were acquitted.
The court also ordered the confiscation of land that was illegally registered under individuals’ names in Tikapur.
In February, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against 249 individuals, accusing the Tikapur Urban Development Committee of illegally distributing government land to private individuals.
The case involved allegations that fake receipts were created to fraudulently register public land under private ownership. The accused included committee chairpersons, officials, employees, and land recipients.
Among those charged with corruption were 14 individuals associated with the Tikapur Urban Development Committee and 110 landowners involved in the land distribution process.