KATHMANDU: The Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday issued its verdict in the high-profile fake Bhutanese refugee scam, convicting nine prominent individuals—including former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi—of organized fraud and crimes against the state.

A single bench presided over by Judge Tej Bahadur Khadka ruled that the syndicate’s operation to illicitly register Nepali citizens as Bhutanese refugees for overseas human trafficking deeply tarnished Nepal’s sovereignty, dignity, and international image.

The court’s decision firmly identified these central figures as the masterminds and primary executors of the fraudulent scheme.

Alongside former Deputy PM Rayamajhi, the court handed down convictions to former Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey and Indrajit Rai, the security advisor to the former Home Minister.

Key racketeers Keshav Prasad Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, and Sandesh Sharma were also found guilty, along with co-conspirators Sagar Rai, Govinda Kumar Chaudhary (also known as Bikram), and former lawmaker Ang Tawa Sherpa.

In its written judgment, the bench emphasized that the act of systematically stripping native citizens of their identity to classify them as refugees dealt a severe blow to the country’s prestige, justifying stringent punishment for offenses against the state.

In the same ruling, former Home Minister and senior Nepali Congress leader Bal Krishna Khand was found guilty under a lesser classification.

Rather than being labeled a primary architect of the scam, the court convicted Khand as an accomplice for his role in facilitating the operation.

Conversely, the court acquitted five co-defendants—Sandeep Rayamajhi (son of Top Bahadur Rayamajhi), Ram Sharan K.C., Tanka Kumar Gurung, Keshav Tuladhar, and Ashish Budhathoki—citing a lack of sufficient factual evidence to sustain the charges against them.

This landmark legal battle stem-winds back to May 24, 2023, when state prosecutors filed a sweeping indictment against 30 individuals, accusing them of forgery, fraud, organized crime, and treason for manufacturing fake documentation to exploit the refugee resettlement program.

While the court has successfully established the guilt of the primary defendants, Judge Khadka ordered that the exact jail terms and financial penalties for all convicted individuals will be formally determined during a follow-up sentencing hearing scheduled for July 13.