Two Nepalis were sentenced to two months in jail for not returning a property they had cheated from a US citizen as per a two-year-old Supreme Court order.

The Supreme Court jailed Ashok Amatya, resident of Panouti-5 Kavre District and his father-in-law Mohan Ba hadur Mainali, resident of Ratnanagar-9 Chitwan, for their involvement in cheating Francine Augustine Marshal. A division bench of Tahir Ali Ansari and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki delivered the verdict today following a final hearing. The bench found them guilty of not transferring a land, plot No 443 with 10 kattha area at Bachhouli VDC-2, Chit wan District, to Blue Lagoon Pvt Ltd owned by the US citizen as per the agreement signed on February 23, 1997.

"Since I am not a Nepali citizen, the land could not be registered in my name, so we signed a contract in his name and agreed to return it to the company later when the company is formally registered. However, he did not return the land and reg istered it in the name of his father-in-law," she claimed in the petition.

On February 21, 2008, the Supreme Court convicted them for cheating and ordered to compensate the US national by paying Rs 30,76404. But when they did not abide by the apex court order, she again filed a contempt of court case against them on January 13, 2009.

source: The Himalayan Times