Probe panel recommends dismissal of APF AIG Banshiraj Dahal

Kathmandu, October 9

A probe committee has recommended action against suspended Armed Police Force (APF) Additional Inspector General (AIG) Banshiraj Dahal under Rule 113 of the Armed Police Force Regulations, 2015, over allegations of conduct unbecoming of a police officer.

The one-member inquiry committee led by AIG Anjani Kumar Pokharel submitted its recommendation to Home Minister Sudan Gurung, an APF source told Onlinekhabar.

Rule 113 provides for the removal or dismissal of an APF personnel found to have acted in breach of conduct, without disqualifying them from future government service. The Home Minister has the authority to decide on the recommended action.

“The recommendation for action under Rule 113 was submitted along with a statement of around 12 to 13 pages,” an APF source said.

Banshiraj Dahal was suspended by the Home Ministry on October 5 over allegations of leaking sensitive information. The inquiry committee was formed the same day, with Pokharel given three days to investigate and recommend action.

Dahal had drawn scrutiny after visiting the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office in Teku to meet former chief justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana when Rana was in police custody.

A team from the office had arrested Rana from his Kathmandu residence on the night of September 26 and released him the following afternoon. The office said Rana had been brought to the residence after it received information about a security threat.

Dahal is also accused of having links with another alleged middleman from Jhapa and leaking confidential information.

Before his suspension, Dahal was serving as chief of the APF’s Border Department. He was due to retire at midnight on May 10, 2027, unless the government extended his tenure.

Under Rule 65(c) of the Armed Police Force Regulations, the tenure of an AIG is four years. Dahal was promoted to the rank on May 11, 2022. However, the regulations allow the government to extend an AIG’s tenure by one year on the recommendation of the APF inspector general.

The APF headquarters had recommended extending Dahal’s tenure by a year to the Home Ministry before he was suspended over the alleged leak of sensitive information.

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