The CIAA has taken former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, former minister Minendra Prasad Rijal and 95 others to the Special Court over a land deal in Morang. It filed the charge sheet today on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 (Kartik 17, 2083).
The commission says the state lost Rs 734.956 million, about Rs 73.5 crore. It wants imprisonment, fines equal to the claimed amount, recovery of that sum and confiscation of land that has since passed into private hands. Special Court Registrar Bedraj Uprety confirmed the case had been filed and was being examined.
What the CIAA alleges
The case concerns land registered to Rijal Canning and Company Pvt Ltd in the former Ward 3 of Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City.
The commission says the company was allowed to hold land above the legal ceiling on the condition that it ran a fruit-processing industry. It alleges the company did not do that, and that officials later helped release the land from a government freeze and approve an exchange that let valuable Biratnagar plots be sold.
The commission’s account runs back decades:
- 1975: A Nepal Gazette notice of May 19 let the company hold extra land in Sunsari and Morang while it ran the industry. Reports put the area at 59 bigha, 9 kattha and 12 dhur.
- Industrial condition: The CIAA says the land was not used for the approved purpose, and that part of it was passed to another company, Rizal Tashi Industries, against the conditions.
- 1992: The government decided to confiscate land linked to the company, and it was placed under restriction.
- August 2006: The CIAA says officials in the Land Reform Office and other bodies helped lift that restriction.
- 2009: The Ministry of Land Reform and Management sent a proposal to swap the Biratnagar land for land in Banigama, Morang. The Cabinet referred it to its Social Committee.
- January 2010: The commission says the Social Committee, coordinated by Rijal, approved the exchange.
- February 2010: The company reportedly bought the Banigama land for Rs 1.285 million. Six days later it sold about four bigha, five kattha and nine dhur in Biratnagar for Rs 83.8625 million.
The roles alleged
Nepal was prime minister when the Cabinet handled the proposal. The CIAA alleges he helped advance it through the Cabinet process. A Cabinet decision made during his time in office does not by itself show criminal responsibility, and the court would have to look at what he knew and did.
Rijal was the minister coordinating the Social Committee.
Who else is named
The 97 defendants include former land reform minister Dambar Shrestha, former chief secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire (whose daughter Kamala Ghimire is also named), former secretary Chhabiraj Panta, former joint secretary Ramesh Chandra Adhikari, former undersecretaries Gandhi Prasad Subedi and Hupendra Mani KC, and other former officials and company directors. Land officials, relatives and current owners are also named.
The commission says some legal heirs of dead officials are included only so it can recover money. People who now hold the land are named so the property can be confiscated.
