Aagya Khabar
Sarlahi

Suspended Mayor of Bagmati Municipality, Bharat Kumar Thapa, has been found guilty in a case related to illegal property acquisition and corruption in public contracts. On Wednesday, the Special Court handed down a prison sentence along with a substantial monetary fine.

A joint bench of Justices Tek Narayan Kunwar, Murari Babu Shrestha, and Bidur Koirala at the Special Court confirmed that Thapa had amassed illegal property worth NPR 34.5 million (3 crores 45 lakhs 22 thousand 387 rupees) beyond his lawful income. According to the court, Thapa’s total legal income amounted to NPR 91.4 million, while his expenditures were recorded at NPR 125.9 million.

Unable to justify the discrepancy, the court sentenced Thapa to one year in prison and imposed a fine equal to the amount of illegally acquired assets.

Moreover, in a separate case related to losses incurred in the municipal tendering of river-based resources, the court also found Mayor Thapa guilty of causing damages exceeding NPR 302.9 million (30 crores 29 lakhs). A separate hearing has been scheduled to determine the penalty in this case.

Thapa, who had once garnered attention for creatively developing the “Bharat Lake,” was elected as a representative of the CPN (Maoist Centre). During his tenure, Engineer Sagar Paudel, Head of the Planning Division, and Chief Administrative Officer Bimal Kumar Pokharel were also implicated in corruption and have been found guilty by the Special Court.

However, Deputy Mayor Leela Kumari Moktan, former Accounts Officer Bishwaraj Pokharel, and former District Coordination Committee Chief Methur Chaudhary have been acquitted by the court.