Kathmandu : Additional Inspector General of the Armed Police Force (APF) Banshiraj Dahal has been suspended over allegations of leaking sensitive security-related information and violating official conduct.
According to Home Ministry spokesperson Ananda Kafle, Dahal was suspended following a recommendation from the Armed Police Force for disciplinary action.
The Home Ministry has formed a committee to investigate the allegations against Dahal. The committee has been instructed to submit its findings to the ministry within three days.
The ministry has not disclosed the specific information that Dahal is alleged to have leaked.
However, according to a senior APF official, Dahal has been accused of visiting former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana without prior permission on the morning of September 27.
Rana had been taken from his residence to a police office around midnight by the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, citing a security threat to the former chief justice.
Senior APF officials said Dahal, who is also described as a relative of Rana, later went to the police office to meet him.
The suspension comes only days after the APF headquarters had recommended extending Dahal’s tenure. Dahal is scheduled to complete his four-year term and retire on October 13.
Under the Armed Police Force Regulations, 2015, the government may extend the tenure of an additional inspector general or deputy inspector general by one year after completion of four years in office, based on the recommendation of the APF Inspector General.
Such tenure extensions have generally been granted to senior APF officials who complete their four-year terms.
If Dahal’s tenure is not extended, he will retire as scheduled on October 13.
His retirement would leave one AIG position vacant in the Armed Police Force, with senior deputy inspector generals expected to compete for the vacant position.
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