KATHMANDU, AUGUST 15Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal today told editors that he had told the home minister and inspector general of police that the Central Investigation Bureau must take a call on CPN-Maoist Centre leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara. 'Maoists will take lead to end anomalies' CPN-Maoist Centre delegates interact with BJP leader At an interaction with editors here today, the PM said he told the home minister and IGP that as Mahara's name figured in the charge sheet, the police should either quiz or arrest him and if he is innocent then they must say so.

The PM also said the police would decide on Mahara within one or two days.

PM Dahal said he asked the police how Mahara's name figured in the nine kg gold smuggling case and why he, after being accused, was not indicted in the case.A newspaper recently reported that Mahara had held a telephone conversation with a Chinese national accused of smuggling nine kilograms gold inside vape (electronic cigarette).

Meanwhile, Mahara told media persons in Dang today that he was ready to assist detectives but they had not called him yet.

Mahara said the Chinese national who called him had only said that his friend's electronic cigarettes had been seized by the customs office at Tribhuvan International Airport and that he only knew him as a fruit trader.

Some employees were arrested in connection with the case of gold smuggling inside electronic cigarettes a few weeks ago. The PM said he would not allow phone tapping or recording of individual's data.Then government led by KP Sharma Oli had amended the Land Act allowing Giri Bandhu Tea Estate to swap some 280 bigha land.

The tea estate wanted to swap its land in Birtamod, the valuation of which stood at Rs 200 million per bigha, with low-priced land in Prithvinagar, Jhapa.

Advocate Om Prakash Aryal has challenged the amendment made in the Land Act allowing Giri Bandhu Tea Estate to swap the land.Giri Bandhu Tea Estate and some other such companies were allowed to hold land above the ceiling for company purposes.

Aryal has argued in his writ petition that any company which was allowed to keep land above the permissible ceiling should return the land to the government but should not be allowed to swap or sell the land.Stating that the government had intensified its probe into the Lalita Niwas land grab case, PM Dahal said that as unscrupulous elements were attempting to capture government land, the government would probe all such cases, including the Giri Bandhu Tea Estate land episode.A version of this article appears in the print on August 16, 2023, of The Himalayan Times. .

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