Kathmandu. Devi Prakash Bhattachan, the chairperson of Prabhu Group, has been arrested on the charge of misappropriating the money of savers of more than a dozen cooperatives across the country.
Bhattachan was arrested on the charge of misappropriating savings of the public through Prabhu Co Operative Services, Prabhu Remit Pvt Ltd and Prabhu Management Pvt Ltd. Bhattachan, 62, was taken into custody on Tuesday by the Kathmandu District Court for investigation.
Bhattachan was a nominated member of the ruling CPN-UML House of Representatives in the House of Representatives, which was dissolved due to the ‘Gen G’ movement. The ruling party, which had created pressure for legal action against Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane, had protected the lawmaker nominated by its own party.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shiva Kumar Shrestha, spokesperson of the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police, Bhattachan was arrested on the basis of complaints received from 3 dozen cooperatives for not returning the savings collected from the cooperatives.
According to a press release issued by the Bureau, Prabhu Remit Pvt. Ltd., which is licensed to receive remittance from Nepal Rastra Bank, has appointed Prabhu Management Pvt. Ltd. as the main agent for the remittance service. Prabhu Management had appointed various cooperatives across the country as their local agents. While appointing agents, Prabhu Management had collected Rs 20 lakh as security from each cooperative.
Prabhu Management had collected around Rs 1 billion as collateral from the cooperatives for appointing remittance agents. Apart from this, even though the cooperative has paid the general public, Prabhu Management and Prabhu Remit are yet to pay a huge amount to the cooperative.
Prabhu Group Chairman Devi Prakash Bhattachan had revealed on May 15, 2082 that the Prabhu Cooperatives had misappropriated Rs 1 billion from the public. According to upka.coma}, Prabhu Co-operative has disbursed a loan of Rs 85 million in the name of Devi Bhattachan, Rs 80 million in the name of Mijas Bhattachan and Rs 100 million in the name of Tara Kumari Bhattachan till Ashad 2081.
