KATHMANDU, July 26: The Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped a plea of former Inspector General of Nepal Police Ramesh Chand Thakuri to grant him bail in relation to a review petition in a verdict issued by the Supreme Court two years ago. A three-member full bench of justices Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, Purushottam Bhandari and Prakash Kumar Dhungana rejected the plea. With the rejection, Thakuri will have to spend the rest of his term in jail. Chand had filed the petition in the apex court seeking bail on his review petition as he had surrendered on July 4 in order to serve one-year jail sentence and Rs 40,000 fine imposed by the Supreme Court two years ago.
Thakuri was convicted by the Supreme Court in the multi-million rupees Sudan armored personnel carriers purchase scam and is currently serving his term in jail. Citing Section 137(2) of Muluki Criminal Procedure Code, 2017, which allows anyone getting less than 10 years jail sentence to seek bail, Thakuri had filed the petition seeking the apex court's permission to grant him bail to proceed with his review petition in the apex court. After being convicted in the Sudan scam by the Supreme Court more than two years ago, Thakuri had surrendered to the court on July 4.
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A division bench of the then Chief Justice Sushila Karki and Justice Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha had slapped on him and others convicted in the scam a year's jail and a fine of Rs 40,000 on April 30, 2017. He had been absconding since the verdict was pronounced.
Chand had filed a petition demanding a review of the verdict but the apex court had sent him to Dillibazar-based jail turning down his pea. The apex court had convicted three former IGPs -- Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana and Hem Bahadur Gurung including several other officials in the Sudan scam in which the convicts had misappropriated the funds allocated for the purchase of APCs and other logistics for UN peacekeeping mission deployed in Darfur, Sudan. Sudan scam is one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country where at least 34 police officials and two suppliers were accused of embezzling Rs 290 million.
