Biratnagar High Court decision acquitting Lal Bahadur Bishwakarma

KATHMANDU: Lal Bahadur Bishwakarma, who was imprisoned on charges of bank and financial activities as well as fraud without a license, was acquitted. The Biratnagar High Court has decided to acquit Lal Bahadur Bishwakarma and the other three defendants.

The High Court reversed the District Court Sunsari’s decision and issued this decree.

Lal Bahadur Bishwakarma, who has been detained for the past seven months, will be released due to this order.

Lal Bahadur worked at Sinhadevi Jewelers in Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City-20, Tarahara, in 2073. His pay at the time was 21 thousand rupees. Lal Bahadur was imprisoned for carrying out his master’s orders.

The Sunsari District Court found Lal Bahadur guilty of fraud and ordered him to be jailed for simply following the owner’s order.

Lal Bahadur reached the Biratnagar High Court with a plea that he was innocent against the order of the district.

Deepak Bishwakarma, the owner of Lal Bahadur’s gold shop, used to run a ‘mini bank’ with gold. Deepak used to collect money from locals saying that he would give more interest than the bank. In this way, Deepak collected more than 19 million rupees from the general public. When Deepak was not there, his father Krishna Bishwakarma looked after the work of the shop. Along with the shop, Krishna also did business including money collection with the permission of his son. However, Krishna could not read and write.

He asked Lal Bahadur to sign in the passbook after collecting the money from those who brought it to the shop. ‘The owner took the money and placed it in the safe. I did it when I was asked to sign the passbook,’ Lal Bahadur had confessed before heading to jail on Mangsir 19 (Dec 5).

The district court ruled Deepak, his father Krishna, and Lal Bahadur guilty because the common people could not refund the same sum deposited. On Poush 19, 2078 (3 Jan 2022), a District Court Sunsari bench led by Judge Nirmala Yongwa condemned Deepak, his father Krishna, sister Sita, and Lal Bahadur.

The District Court sentenced Lal Bahadur to one and a half years imprisonment and a fine of 70,000 on Mangsir 19, 2079 (5 Dec 2022).

In addition, it was decided that four people, including Lal Bahadur, would pay 18 million 84,66,889 rupees through Damasahi.

According to which, Lal Bahadur had given a verdict that he should pay 4 crores 71 lakhs 16 thousand 722 rupees 25 paise.