KATHMANDU: Devkumar Nepali, the 51-year-old chairman of the Image Savings and Credit Cooperative and mayor of Dhorpatan Municipality in Baglung, has been brought to Kathmandu following his arrest in New Delhi, India. He was apprehended along with Om Bahadur Nepali, 58, also known as Om Prasad Darji, who is implicated in the same cooperative fraud case.

Ever since the cooperative fraud claims appeared, both people had been missing. This lawsuit involves eight defendants in total, and on June 7, 2023, a warrant was issued for Devkumar Nepali's arrest. On January 24, 2024, a red alert was also issued for him.

SP Hobindra Bogati, a spokesman for the police's Central Investigation Bureau, reports that both individuals have been moved to the District Police Office in Baglung in order to proceed with legal processes. The seriousness of their circumstances is a result of claims of embezzlement totaling more than Rs 1.5 billion.

To exacerbate his legal issues, Devkumar Nepali is also vice-chairman of the Surya Darshan Cooperative board of directors in Pokhara. He and his co-defendants are facing embezzlement charges, which the authorities are aggressively looking into.

Investigations are likely to provide greater insight into the scope of the purported fraud. The case brings to light persistent problems with financial malfeasance inside Nepalese cooperative groups.