Kathmandu : A high-profile case has been registered in the Chitwan District Court against Geetendra Babu Rai (GB) and 16 others, accused of defrauding multiple cooperatives.

Rai, who is currently absconding, is alleged to have taken millions of rupees from over half a dozen cooperatives, including the Sahara Multi-Purpose Cooperative Organization in Chitwan.

The defendants include prominent figures such as Sagar KC, Hemant Rai, Bhupendra Rai, Ashish Anand, Anantababu Rai, Chhatramani Bhattarai, Devendra Babu Rai, Dinesh Roka, Tirtharaj Lamichhane, Manoj Gurung, Deepa Neupane, Shiv Prasad Acharya, Kumar Ramtel, Bir Bahadur Ranabhat, Sharan Vishwakarma, and Than Bahadur Baidya.

Rai, the founder president of Sahara Cooperative, is believed to have fled to Malaysia.

Despite a ‘Red Notice’ being issued through Interpol for his arrest, Malaysian authorities have not detained him. A team from Nepal Police visited Malaysia between Bhadra 7th and 17th to track him down, but they were unable to bring him back to Nepal.

The charge sheet filed in the court reveals that 446 savers lost a staggering NPR 376.6 million due to the fraud.

Along with the demand for the recovery of the embezzled funds, the prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to 7 years and a fine of NPR 70,000, in accordance with Section 249 of the Civil Code.

Additionally, the parliamentary investigation special committee on misuse of co-operatives savings has found GB’s involvement in multiple cooperative frauds, recommending legal action against him.

The investigation into funds transferred to Gorkha Media Network is ongoing, and further prosecution may follow.

A supplementary investigation is expected to be launched into the NPR 470 million deposited into the Gorkha Media’s Global IME Bank account from Sahara Cooperative.