The Special Court on Monday released Nagendra Yadav, the personal assistant (PA) of Minister of State for Forest and Soil Conservation Laxman Mahato, who was caught while receiving bribe, on Rs 50,000 bail.

A joint bench of the Special Court comprising its chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki and judge Om Prakash Mishra released him on bail.

A team deployed by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had arrested Yadav red-handed last month while taking Rs 50,000 in advance payment from people of a remote village in Mugu district who were displaced from their homes after Rara National Park reclaimed the area saying that it fell within the park’s boundary.

Yadav is learnt to have promised 77 persons who were displaced from their homes adequate compensation through a cabinet decision for losing their land property to Rara National Park. He had asked bribe of Rs 3,500 from each of them in return for the favor. The CIAA team had held Yadav with the bribe money from a restaurant near Singha Durbar. nepalnews.com