Prateek Thapa, the son of former Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’, who was landed in the police net in the fake Bhutanese refugee case on Friday, has been presented to the court today.
Prateek, who was arrested from Bouddha yesterday, was produced at the Kathmandu District Court today. A case is going on in the court against Prateek for his alleged involvement in sending Nepali people to America posing them as Bhutanese refugees.
A bail-hearing in the case is scheduled for tomorrow.
An accused in the Bhutanese refugee case, Pratik had been on the run for a long time. A charge sheet had been filed against him keeping him on the list of fugitives in the Bhutanese refugee case.
Indicted for fraud, involvement in organized crime, forgery, and treason, a combined prison sentence of 24 years has been sought against him.
The charge sheet accuses him of orchestrating a scheme from Nilgiri Hotel in Naxal, Kathmandu, and sending Nepali people to America posing them as Bhutanese refugees.
Pratik was the chief personal secretary when his father Badal was the Home Minister.
Legal proceedings are going on in the Kathmandu District Court in the fake Bhutanese refugee case against former Minister Bal Krishna Khand, Home Secretary Teknarayan Pandey, Indrajit Rai (Advisor to Thapa), Narendra KC (Khand's assistant), UML Secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and his son.
