CIAA Arrests School Management Committee Member with Rs 200,000 Bribe in Dhangadhi

Dhangadhi: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has arrested a person with Rs 200,000 in cash during a ‘string operation’ in Far West Province, about 13 months after its previous such action in the region.

The CIAA’s Kanchanpur office arrested Dev Bahadur Bam, a member of the Kalika Secondary School Management Committee in Gauriganga Municipality-4, Kailali, with Rs 200,000 in cash on Thursday.

According to CIAA Kanchanpur spokesperson Chetraj Bhatta, the commission conducted the ‘string operation’ after receiving information that Bam had demanded money from school employees on the pretext of increasing services and facilities. He was taken into custody with the money from a dairy shop in Dhangadhi-1.

Earlier, on July 5 last year, the CIAA had arrested Kailali Assistant Forest Officer Purna Shankar Yadav with Rs 731,000 in cash. Since then, the CIAA’s Kanchanpur office had not arrested any employee, middleman or other person involved in corruption with cash or physical bribes for about 13 months.

School employees have also expressed dissatisfaction after it became public that a school management committee member had demanded a large amount of money from employees, a day after the federal government increased the salaries of school employees.

The latest action by the CIAA has alerted those involved in school management amid complaints of financial manipulation in the appointment, promotion and increase of services and facilities of teachers and employees in community schools.