KATHMANDU: On Wednesday, arguments were underway in the highly publicized fake Bhutanese refugee scam case in courtroom number eight on the fifth floor of the Kathmandu District Court. Outside the courtroom stood security personnel along with individuals supporting both the prosecution and defense. Inside the courtroom, nine detainees—including former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey—along with their relatives, were listening to the arguments.

In the courtroom, Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka occasionally flipped through the case files. At the podium in front of the bench, advocate Rajkumar Suwal was presenting arguments on behalf of the accused Bhutanese refugee leader, Tek Nath Rijal.

Suwal asserted that a false narrative had been constructed claiming money was swindled under the pretext of taking Nepalese citizens to America by turning them into fake refugees, and he maintained that such accusations were baseless. He also stated that it was wrong for the investigative and prosecutorial agencies to build a narrative boasting the detention of high-profile individuals like a former Deputy Prime Minister and a former Home Secretary.

During his arguments, Advocate Suwal also pointed out the government’s failure to resolve the Bhutanese refugee crisis.

Since the arguments did not conclude on Wednesday, the case remains under continuous hearing.

It has already been 20 days since scenes like this began repeating regarding the Bhutanese refugee scam case at the Kathmandu District Court. The final hearing on this case has been ongoing since June 10, 2023.

Nine accused individuals related to this case, which has been sub-judice at the District Court since May 26, 2023, are currently in judicial custody pending trial.

The detention period of the accused was prolonged when the case files were burnt after arson was committed at the Kathmandu District Court during the Gen-Z movement on September 9, 2025. Court Registrar Ghanendra Adhikari stated that after retrieving the case files through various sources, the case has now been placed under continuous hearing so a verdict can be reached. According to him, they succeeded in recovering the case files from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government Attorney’s Office, and other agencies. “The hearing of the case was delayed because the files and the building were burnt. The arguments were initiated after the components of the case files were completed,” he said.

So far, arguments from the defendants’ side are ongoing. Forty-nine legal practitioners have registered their names to argue on behalf of the 30 defendants, out of whom 23 have already concluded their arguments. Once the defense finishes its arguments, the government prosecution side will present its rebuttal, followed by the verdict. The verdict is expected within this month.

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Though it has been nearly three years since the case was registered, a verdict is finally expected now. Due to the lack of a timely verdict, nine accused individuals have been forced to remain in custody.

On May 24, 2023, a case was registered against 30 individuals seeking a claim amount (Bigo) equivalent to Rs 280 million on charges related to fraud, forgery of documents, offenses against the state, and organized crime, under the accusation of turning Nepalese citizens into fake Bhutanese refugees.

What was the fake refugee scam?

Bhutanese refugees, who had been arriving and living in Nepal since 1987, were resettled in third countries by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) between 2007 and 2016. Initially, the number of recognized Bhutanese refugees under the UNHCR was 119,884. During the resettlement period, more than 116,000 refugees were registered with the UNHCR. Among them, only 113,307 individuals were sent to eight countries under the third-country resettlement program. Of those who left, 96,170 were taken to the United States.

The UNHCR, which had been handling the issue of Bhutanese refugees residing in Nepal, halted its resettlement operations in 2016, handed over the remaining tasks to the Government of Nepal, and left in 2020. Bhutanese refugees who had been living across seven locations were consolidated into the Beldangi camp in Damak Municipality-3 of Jhapa and the Pathari Sanischare camp in Morang. Seeing an opportunity to make money by sending Nepalese citizens to America under the guise of these refugees, an organized syndicate became active. Source

On June 14, 2019, a task force was formed via a ministerial-level decision by the then Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa to identify permanent and long-term solutions to the Bhutanese refugee problem. The task force was formed under the coordination of the then Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bal Krishna Panthi, with Ganesh Bahadur KC as an expert member and Ministry Joint Secretary Deepak Prasad Neupane as a member. The Panthi-led task force submitted its report to the then Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai in October/November 2019. In the report, the names of 429 individuals were added, claiming they were missed out during the UNHCR resettlement registration. Members of the syndicate, however, had submitted applications to the task force claiming that 875 refugees had been left out of the census.

When the then Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand brought Tek Narayan Pandey as the Home Secretary on August 12, 2021, comments began circulating that the number of fake refugees had increased. After those who had paid money in the hope of reaching America as Bhutanese refugees filed complaints when they were unable to go, a massive fraud scandal involving state machinery was exposed.

The nine individuals sent to custody by the court

On June 16, 2023, the Kathmandu District Court ordered 15 individuals to be kept in judicial custody pending trial in the Bhutanese refugee scam. An appeal was registered at the Patan High Court against the District Court’s order. Sustaining parts of the District Court’s order, the High Court ordered former Minister Rayamajhi and others to be sent to judicial custody pending trial.

Out of the 20 individuals against whom the case was pursued, orders were issued to release six individuals on bail and four individuals on general recognizance. During that process, Nepali Congress leader and former Home Minister Khand was released after furnishing a bail amount of Rs 3 million.

Claiming that they were being detained unlawfully, Rayamajhi, Pandey, and others approached the Supreme Court against the orders of the District and High Courts, demanding to fight the case from outside of custody. At that time, only three individuals received the relief they requested.

The Supreme Court refused to release Rayamajhi, Pandey, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa’s advisor Indrajit Rai, and the main accused in the Bhutanese refugee scam, Keshav Prasad Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, and Sandesh Sharma. In the case of these seven individuals, the Supreme Court maintained that they must be kept in judicial custody pending trial based on the detailed police complaints, statements implicating one another, and documents retrieved from the victims.