Nepalese authorities launch probe against former premiers

Kathmandu, Sept 29 (PTI) Nepalese authorities have initiated an inquiry against former premiers - Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' - and ex-minister Deepak Khadka, two weeks after videos showing burnt banknotes at their residences went viral on social media.

On September 9, Gen-Z protesters set the houses of Nepali Congress President Deuba, CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Prachanda, and Nepali Congress leader and then Energy minister Khadka on fire.

Videos circulated online showed people entering their houses, vandalising and burning thousands of notes with denominations of 500 and 1,000.

As the news went viral on social media, the government dispatched a team from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation to their houses and collected evidence.

The department sent its teams to the residences of Deuba and Khadka on September 21 and to Prachanda’s house on September 23, according to officials.

They collected pieces of burnt banknotes, ashes, and various evidence, and sent the samples to the National Forensic Science Laboratory in Khumaltar for analysis, officials said.

The officials said that the department has initiated a formal investigation into the matter.

Both Deuba and Prachanda were in power in one way or another for around two decades. The media reports suggest that they amassed properties illegally during their tenure.

However, Deuba’s secretariat denied the allegations in a statement. It said the videos were generated by AI with malicious intent to damage his reputation. PTI SBP ZH ZH ZH