KATHMANDU: A Supreme Court joint bench of Justices Binod Sharma and Nityanand Pandeya is hearing a habeas corpus petition today, Thursday, seeking the release of CPN (UML) Vice-Chairman and former Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel.

The case moves forward today after a separate bench on Tuesday refused his interim release, deferring the matter until a massive trail of investigative files could be retrieved to verify the legality of his detention.

Paudel’s wife, Domaya Paudel, filed the petition on June 24 following his June 22 arrest in Surkhet on money laundering charges.

To thoroughly scrutinize the case today, the court ordered original files from the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, alongside related files involving high-profile banking, insurance, and stock market fraud cases from various courts.

Paudel remains in custody as the Special Court recently extended his judicial remand.