Nepal's Home Ministry has suspended Armed Police Force (APF) Additional Inspector General (AIG) Banshiraj Dahal. He is accused of leaking sensitive security information and violating official conduct. The ministry ordered an inquiry on October 5, 2026, and told the inquiry officer to submit a report within three days.
Home Ministry spokesperson Ananda Kafle said the suspension followed a recommendation from APF headquarters. The ministry has not said what information was allegedly leaked or who received it. Dahal has not been found guilty of anything, and the suspension is an administrative step while the inquiry is under way.
Reports tie the case to former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana. On September 27, police took Rana from his home in Maharajgunj to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office in Teku. Police said they had identified a security threat against him. Citing a senior APF official, reports say Dahal went to the Teku office without permission. They say he arrived at about 3 a.m. and left at abour 5 a.m. Reports also link him to being a relative of Rana.
Other reports cite police investigation sources who say Dahal was in contact with a man named Inam Sapkota, whom police had also questioned. They allege that sensitive information about Rana was passed through Sapkota.
An AIG is among the APF's highest-ranking officers, so a case like this raises questions about how sensitive information is protected and whether chain of command was followed. The APF is a hierarchical force, and a senior officer visiting a person held at another agency's office without informing his superiors can raise concerns about discipline and coordination.
The suspension also came shortly after APF headquarters recommended extending Dahal's tenure by a year, as he nears the end of his four-year AIG term. No evidence has been made public that the two events are connected, and no final decision on the extension has been announced.
The case now follows a set path: allegation, suspension, inquiry, report, and then possible further disciplinary or legal action. The three-day report should show what information was allegedly disclosed, how it was obtained and whether Dahal broke the rules. Until it is made public, the case rests on allegations.
