By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : It was Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s last minute intervention that facilitated kidney scam mastermind Amit Kumar’s handover to Indian authorities in a dramatic development here Saturday.
Though the government had earlier planned to call a cabinet meeting Sunday and decide whether to deport Amit Kumar alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut or to take action against him in accordance with Nepali laws, the decision was overturned by the prime minister after the Indian authorities mounted pressure on him for handing over the accused.
Amit Kumar, the 43-year-old Indian Ayurvedic doctor allegedly behind 600 illegal kidney transplants, was arrested Thursday evening from a hotel near the India-Nepal border and taken to Kathmandu early Friday for interrogation.
Nepal Police had earlier said he would be produced in a Nepalese court Sunday and charged with violating the Foreign Currency Regulation Act as a large amount of foreign currency was recovered from him when he was nabbed.
However, Koirala’s intervention led to Nepal Police handing over the accused to two Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials who brought him to New Delhi Saturday evening.
The decision is going to create a fresh controversy in Nepal.
Koirala has already been accused of signing a recent agreement with the Maoists under the influence of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Ashok Chaturvedi who made a secret visit to Kathmandu to discuss the terms of the agreement.
It is also going to anger the Maoists who have stepped up their campaign against India’s alleged attempts to dominate Nepal by encroaching on Nepali territory and allegedly forcing the government to hand over some hydropower projects to Indian companies.
The decision to let Indian authorities take Amit Kumar to India has already demoralised Nepal Police who feel they lost face by not being allowed to produce him in a court here and try him for violating Nepal’s laws.