Dilli Bazaar Prison adobes three ex-ministers
Dilli Bazaar Prison now boasts of being a high-profile jail, literally, with as many as three former ministers cooling heels here, and the latest entrant is Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta.
Dilli Bazaar Prison. Photo: File photo.
Gupta, who was the minister for information and communications in the incumbent Baburam Bhattarai-led government, was sent to jail for 18 months by the Supreme Court today on corruption charges.
Former minister Chiranjivi Wagle has been doing time in the jail on corruption charge since March 15 last year. He was sentenced for five years.
Former minister Shyam Sundar Gupta was sent to Dilli Bazaar Prison on February 17 by Kathmandu District Court to proceed with a case involving abduction of Pawan Kumar Sanghai, a businessman. On February 9, a government prosecutor had filed a case demanding 17-year jail term for Shyam Sundar Gupta and Rs 8.5 million from him and four other accomplices for abducting Sanghai and taking him hostage for 20 days before releasing the businessman for a ransom of Rs 8.5 million.
Wagle, a Nepali Congress leader, when sent to jail was not holding any government position, but Shyam Sundar Gupta, when slapped with the jail sentence was a sitting lawmaker, while JP Gupta was a sitting minister when the court read out its verdict. JP Gupta, also a former NC leader, is currently the chairman of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Republic. Shyam Sundar Gupta represents Nepal Sadbhavana Party-Anandidevi.
Officials said security was up in the jail. According to a source, JP Gupta had expressed his desire to stay together with Wagle. –The Himalayan Times Daily
