KATHMANDU: The Kathmandu District Court has registered a fraud case against eight former officials of the Nepal Children’s Organization (Bal Mandir) following an investigation by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) into alleged financial irregularities.

Those charged include former presidents Om Krishna Karmacharya, Yuri Kumari Rai, and Bhagwan Shakya; former secretary Rajendra Kumar Shrestha; former Planning and Scholarship Branch chief Asha Shrestha; former treasurers Deepak Das Shrestha and Prayag Raj Shrestha; and former adviser Ram Krishna Chitrakar.

Police have arrested Asha Shrestha, Rajendra Kumar Shrestha, and Om Krishna Karmacharya, while the remaining five have been charged in absentia after being declared absconding.

The incident stem from the 2019 Hari Babu Bhattarai Commission report, recently revived by Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s government.

The report uncovered decades of systemic abuse, revealing that the charity sent 948 children abroad under international guardianship while proper files existed for only 72, with the corresponding adoption fees completely vanishing from official bank accounts.

The broader scandal involves the exploitation of Bal Mandir’s 61,000-square-meter Naxal estate.