Police arrested former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR late Saturday night from his home in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu.
A team from the Crime Investigation Office in Teku carried out the arrest last night. The team was led by Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Khadka. Police say the arrest happened after someonee filed a formal complaint against him at the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office. As of now, police have not disclosed anything regarding the arrest.
Cholendra Shumsher JBR became Nepal's Chief Justice on January 1,2019. Nearly after three years, on February 13, 2022, Parliament registered an impeachment motion against him. That motion got him suspended from his position, but the motion itself was never actually voted on or passed. Because it just sat there for years without a final decision, he was never allowed to go back to the Supreme Court either, even though he was never formally removed.
Just over two weeks ago, on September 9,2026 the Supreme Court's Constitutional Bench looked at this exact situation. The courtr ruled that the old impeachment motion had basically lost its meaning after sitting unresolved for so long and threw out a legal challenge related to it, the years long limbo around his impeachment had just been legally closed.
As of now, the confirmed news is he was arrested late night yesterday at his own home following a complaint at the time of this writing. More details to follow as it gets confirmed.
