Nepal ex-Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara arrested over ‘involvement’ in gold-smuggling

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a senior leader of the ruling Maoist party and former Speaker of House of Representatives, was arrested and sent for four days in custody by a Kathmandu court Monday, in relation to a major gold smuggling case.

Police arrested Mahara near Dang in western Nepal and then flew him to Kathmandu for further interrogation.

Mahara’s arrest comes a day after Dipesh Pun — Maoist youth leader and son of Former Vice President, Nanda Kishore Pun — was arrested

The arrest was executed on the express order of Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane based on an official investigation report that identified Mahara and a large chunk of Pun’s secretariat when he was the vice President, as involved in gold smuggling to Nepal as a transit to India, police said.

The inquiry was constituted in July after 61 kg gold from West Asia cleared out by the Customs Department at the Tribhuvan International Airport was apprehended by the police outside the airport. The inquiry report submitted to the prime minister a few months ago said that some senior politicians — mostly from the Maoist party that heads the coalition government — were involved in the smuggling incident.

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