Oppn Nepali Cong obstructs Parl over graft charge issue

Kathmandu: The main opposition Nepali Congress on Sunday obstructed the meeting of the House of Representatives for the third consecutive days, alleging that the government is using the country's anti-graft body as an instrument to settle political scores.

The party claimed that the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)'s decision to indict the Nepali Congress parliamentary party's deputy leader Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar on a corruption case is politically motivated whereas some people close to the ruling party allegedly involved in the case got spared.

Gachhadar was one among 175 defendants indicted in a charge-sheet that the anti-graft body registered at the Special Court on Wednesday last week for their alleged involvement in a land grab case.

Following the obstruction, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota adjourned the meeting for Tuesday.

Former Minister and General Secretary of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, Bishnu Poudyal, was earlier charged in the case by CIAA, which later withdrew the case after he reportedly returned the land registered in his son's name.