Senior advocate Balkrishna Neupane yesterday filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court demanding to investigate the connection of former prime ministers — Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai — in the Lalita Niwas land grab scam.
Neupane filed the petition at the Apex Court challenging the decision made by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to spare Nepal and Bhattarai from corruption charges in the Lalita Niwas case.
According to Neupane, CIAA had excused itself saying it was in no position to question the legality of the collective decisions made by the former prime ministers’ Cabinets. Neupane, through his petition, has also reminded CIAA of their duty to hold accountable all parties involved in the case.
Stating that the anti-graft body’s decision to not file charge sheet against both previous leaders was suspicious, the petition seeks the Apex Court’s intervention to name the leaders as defendants in the land scam case.
The CIAA last week filed the charge sheet against 175 individuals seeking action against them. But, both the prime ministers were spared by the anti-graft body, stating that their involvement was limited to policy-level decisions made through the cabinet.