The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Friday took Sajha Yatayat Chairman Kanak Mani Dixit into custody for his alleged involvement in corruption.

In a statement, the CIAA has said that Dixit has been taken into custody as part of its investigation into complaints against him that he had amassed property disproportionate to his known source of income.

Dixit, who is also a senior journalist, co-publisher of Himalmedia and civil society activist, however, has termed the CIAA move a part of revenge against him for opposing Lokman Singh Karki’s appointment as the head of the anti-graft body.

“My arrest is part of vendetta for opposing his [Karki’s] appointment to the post of chief commissioner of the CIAA,” Dixit told the Post over phone from the custody. “It [the detention] is against the Supreme Court order issued by then chief justice Kalyan Shrestha.”  

“Sajha Yatayat is not a public institution; it is a cooperative. The CIAA’s action is politically motivated,” Dixit added.

Condemning the arrest, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (Himalmedia Chapter) described Dixit’s arrest by the CIAA as a “deliberate vengeful act against a journalist and a pro-democracy and human rights activist”.

The CIAA has said in its statement that Dixit has been arrested according to Section 19.1 (C) of the CIAA Act 1991 “for his defiance and non-cooperation in the anti-graft body’s investigation despite repeated notices to appear before it”.

Dixit was among the 29 high-ranking public figures who were summoned by the CIAA in December last year.

Dixit has been kept at Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala, contrary to the general practice of keeping corruption accused at CIAA’s own detention facility. CIAA Spokesperson Krishna Hari Pushkar said that Dixit was taken to Gaushala “due to lack of custody room at the CIAA”.

Police did not let Senior Advocate Shambhu Thapa meet Dixit when Thapa reached Gaushala police station at 7:20pm. “I was not allowed to meet Dixit, as police said there were no instructions from the CIAA,” said Thapa, adding that: “I was told nobody was allowed to meet Dixit except his wife.”

According to the CIAA, Dixit was first informed to appear before the anti-graft body on December 3, 2015 and that he himself had collected the property detail form from the commission’s office on January 8, 2015. “The property details, however, submitted by Dixit on January 14, 2016 did not match with various documents the CIAA had collected from various concerned bodies,” added the anti-corruption body in its statement.

The anti-graft constitutional body has said that it is investigating into complaints against Dixit that he has amassed property by abusing his position as Sajha Yatayat chairman and bought house and land in the USA and transferred the ownership of the land belonging to Madan Sumsher Rana and his wife Jagadamba Rana in his name illegally.