Kathmandu: Three individuals involved in the Lalita Niwas land procurement scam, including former election commissioner Sudhir Kumar Shah, Bhatbhateni Supermarket Franchise proprietor Min Bahadur Gurung, and former Inland Revenue Office employee Dharma Prasad Gautam, have registered a writ of habeas corpus at the Supreme Court.

The court is set to hold a hearing on the writ on Friday, as confirmed by SC Spokesperson Bimal Paudel. These individuals were arrested on June 27 along with another individual named Gopal Karki in relation to the land-grabbing scam.

On June 29, they were presented before the Kathmandu District Court, which granted the police a seven-day custody for further investigations. However, three other accused individuals, Kaladhar Deuja, Surendraman Kapali, and Hupendra Mani KC, were released by the police after it was discovered that they possessed a stay order from the Supreme Court against their arrests. The interim order from the Supreme Court instructed the authorities to conduct the investigation without detaining them.

The police are currently conducting a special operation in connection with the Lalita Niwas land-grab scandal. The arrested individuals face charges of forgery related to the transfer of ownership of Lalita Niwas land in Baluwatar to individuals between 2049 BS and 2069 BS. The case has drawn significant attention due to the alleged irregularities and fraudulent activities involved in the acquisition of the land.