CIB may have its own custody in 45 days

KATHMANDU, JUL 19 -
The Central Investigations Bureau ( CIB ) of the Nepal Police is likely to get a custody of its own after three years of dillydallying.

Following a Home Ministry endorsement of the CIB ’s Regulations in May, the police headquarters, Naxal, approved a budget worth Rs 1.2 million for the construction of a custody.

Under construction at the CIB ’s Maharajgunj-based office, the custody will be complete in one and a half months, said CIB spokesperson SP Ishwar Babu Karki. With a custody of its own, the CIB will be able to implement what it calls a “smooth chain of investigations”.

“So far we do not have a privilege to keep an arrestee for a couple of days and interrogate him/her to dig out more information,” said SP Karki.

“We had to use the custodies of either the headquarters or other police units in Kathmandu, which was not practical.”

CIB ’s arrestees would be usually handed over to the Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhoka, for investigations and further prosecutions.

According to Karki, a ‘rupture’ in the process of interrogation would break the ease in investigations, eventually leading the investigating officers to miss out a number of nuances of a particular criminal case.

Apart from efficient investigations, it was, according to officials, also about the CIB ’s inability to take credit on any cases it had been dealing with. “Whenever we registered our case under Hanumandhoka’s authority, it would no longer be our case,” said Karki, adding that the CIB would start taking its cases to court by itself once the custodies are ready for operation. Three years down the line, the CIB does not have a single court case registered under its name due to lack of the Regulations. It had not even been able to create its own letter pads for official use.

The under construction custody has been split into two different cells for men and women. The custody, which maintains ‘international standard’, will have walls and ceilings coated with plywood to give arrestees extra warmth. There is also an attached modern toilet in both the cells.

An additional workforce will be required now for the maintenance and security of the custody. “With 172 personnel, we are fairly capable for our assigned jurisdictions,” said SP Karki.

“More hands will be needed for the custody.” Additional personnel are required for taking arrestees to court, hospital, or any other purpose. Once the custody is ready, an additional 30 to 35 personnel are required.

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