By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Dec. 29: Police have arrested two contractors on charge of irregularities in the purchase of Nepal Police uniforms (pants).
Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police detained Pitamber Kumar Munka, operator and owner of Crown Textile, and Narendra Nath Poudel, representative of the company, on Sunday from different places.
“Following necessary police investigation, we made their arrest public only on Monday after taking court’s remand order for further investigation,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Bel Bahadur Pandey told The Rising Nepal.
Munka was arrested from Parsa and Poudel from Ghattekulo of Kathmandu on Sunday evening, according to Pandey, who is also the spokesperson of the Bureau.
According to the Bureau, they were arrested after finding that their company had committed fraud by sending fake samples of the textile for the purchase of 20,000 metres of woolen pants worth Rs. 21.64 million for the fiscal year 2073/2074 BS.
According to SP Pandey, Crown Textile had sent a sample to be procured from SGS Chennai, India.
After the sample was approved by the Nepal Police, Crown Textile unilaterally sent another but low quality sample.
Pandey said that they were arrested after finding the pant fabric against the approved quality and standards.
“It was found that the Nepal Police was cheated by not meeting the quality standard as approved during the bidding process,”
Thapa said.
Munka is a permanent resident of Birgunj Sub-metropolitan City-5 in Parsa district while Poudel hails from Madi Municipality-8 in Chitwan district.
Further police investigation has begun with the permission of Kathmandu District Court securing one week remand order.