Judge Nawa Raj Thapaliya, who was working at Jumla bench under the High Court Surkhet, has been stripped of his responsibilities for his alleged involvement in settling cases in collusion with former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana.
He has now been summoned by the Judicial Council from Jumla bench. The JC’s meeting held on Sunday decided to seek clarification from him. If the clarification is not satisfactory, the JC may also terminate him from his job, sources have said.
Thapaliya was ranked 17th when the Judicial Council (JC) appointed 18 judges to the High Court on April 2, 2019.
Thapaliya, who was seen not so active in advocacy, courted controversies even during his appointment as the High Court judge. But, no one could pose challenge to the JC’s decision. He was sworn-in and appointed as the judge by then Chief Justice Cholendra Rana.
After having served for some time at High Court, Dipayal and Butwal, he was transferred to High Court Patan, which is a preferred destination for many judges. There have been allegations that he was transferred to Patan High Court due to favor shown by Cholendra Rana towards him. A recent investigation report of the JC has corroborated it. If the report of the investigation committee led by Supreme Court Justice Til Prasad Shrestha is anything to go by, Thapaliya was less of a judge, but more of a mediator. The report reveals that he was engaged in settling cases by taking bribes in the name of Rana.
This is how he collected bribes
According to the report submitted last year by the committee led by Shrestha, Thapaliya was engaged in collecting bribes from plaintiffs and defendants.
An evidence collected by the report shows him to have taken Rs 6 million in bribe from a woman (in Lainchaur-based Hotel Ambassador) promising her help that the case would be decided in her favor. She had been fighting a property-related case. She had lost the case twice at the district and high courts. Thapaliya had taken the amount by promising her that he would settle the case in favor of her with the help of then chief justice Rana, reads the report.
However, the decision went out of Rana’s control as it was decided in the bench of Justices Anil Kumar Sinha and Dr Aananda Mohan Bhattarai. As the decision of the case did not come out as promised, a conflict arose between plaintiff and Thapaliya that laid bare the secret collusion.
As mentioned in the report, Thapaliya, in another high profile case, had also taken Rs 30 million in the Unity scam case that swindled over Rs 6 billion out of general public. This case is still sub-judice in the Supreme Court.
Suspicious letter
The JC also found his connection with some ambassadors while inspecting his telephone ‘call details’. According to the call details, he was found to have telephoned for 172 times with one embassy in the period of one month. He was not involved only in arranging settings in the judicial sector but also in those sector where political appointments are made, a former member of the JC said.
The investigation committee has also suggested that the corruption case can be prosecuted considering his wealth and prosperity as unnatural.
What will the Justice Council do?
The proceedings against Judge Thapaliya, who has been suspended for more than a year, have resumed. The meeting of the Justice Council on Sunday decided to give him a last chance to submit an acquittal. According to sources, the Judicial Council is going to ask for an explanation for that.
Who is Thapaliya?
Born in Nuwakot on November 20, 1977, Thapaliya is the former president of the Free Students Union at Nepal Law Campus. He had obtained a license of a legal practitioner in 2059 BS.
The 34-point letter submitted by the Nepal Bar Association, an umbrella organization of all law practitioners, on August 28, 2022, to the Impeachment Committee of the Parliament, seeking investigation into then Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, has smelled a rat on his collusion.
On February 20, 2022, an impeachment had been filed against Rana in the parliament for allegedly committing irregularities at the Supreme Court in collusion with family members, judges at various levels and constitutional officials. The parliament has not made any decisions on the impeachment against Rana.
Prove allegations against me, says Thapaliya
Nepalkhabar talked to Judge Thapaliya for his response to the allegations leveled against him and the report prepared by the JC, recently. Thapaliya’s responses:
The Judicial Council had carried out investigation on you. What is going on with that?
I have no idea.
The JC had summoned you, hadn’t it?
Oh! That’s a way back… It’s an old issue.
You are alleged to have taken Rs 6 million from a woman in Hotel Ambassador.
I am unaware of it.
What’s about the issue of taking money from a hotelier woman?
Oh, that has a dramatic story behind it. I will tell you in person.
You are also alleged to have taken Rs 30 million in Unity scam case with assurances that the case would be decided in favor of top company honchos.
Let it be probed and proven.
What is your relation with Lok Bahadur Tandon, an accused of Unity fraud case?
He runs a hospital. My father, mother and I undergo treatment at his hospital. Green City Hospital is nearby my house (Ranibari). I can produce medical documents, if need be.
