Kathmandu. Entrepreneur Durga Prasai is a name known to most Nepalis. Even those who don’t know him have heard his name in some way or the other, or at least seen him on mobile and TV.

He is more famous for his unruly speech than he is for pursuing business and politics simultaneously. Prasai was the talk of the town after he hosted a ‘Marsi Lunch’ with KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ at the same table at his home in Bhaktapur on February 19, 2017. He was one of the most controversial people in the shadow of politics at that time.

Prachanda, who was once with Oli to expand his business, is now trying to establish himself as a full-time politician. Lately, he has been identifying himself as a royalist.

The same Durga Prasai has been arrested for the 14th time a few days ago. In recent years, his arrest and release have become commonplace. According to Nepal Police, the legal action against Prasai started in 2076 BS. He was arrested for the first time on January 15, 2019 from his Bhaktapur residence on the charge of indecent behavior. Then on September 1, 2081, the Cyber Bureau took control under the Electronic Transactions Act. He was released a few days after his arrest. He was arrested again a few days later on September 23, 2081 in a case of the same nature.

Prasai was arrested again on November 19, 2081 on the charge of electronic transaction. Similarly, on November 30, 2081, he was arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) on the charge of cheating. On March 1, 2081, he was arrested by the Kathmandu District Police Range on the charge of criminal nuisance. He was also investigated in an organised crime case on the same date.

Similarly, on April 11, 2081, he was arrested on charges of murder. On the same date, the CIB was also investigating the banking fraud. During that time, he was imprisoned in Dillibazar Jail for about four months.

The Patan High Court on August 2, 2002 ordered his release on bail. A bail of Rs 2.8 lakh was fixed on Rs 25 lakh in a banking offense and Rs 3 lakh in another case. He was released on bail.

His arrest has not stopped even in 2082. He was arrested by the Kathmandu Range on January 17, 2082 on the charge of breaching public peace. Similarly, on February 7, 2002, the Cyber Bureau took control again under the Electronic Transactions Act. Similarly, he was arrested on February 17, 2082 on another case of trespassing on public peace. He was arrested again from his private residence in Bhaktapur on the morning of March 17.

He has now been arrested on charges of disturbing the public peace. The Bhaktapur District Administration Office had given permission to the police to investigate the case by keeping them in custody for five days.

After his arrest, a writ of habeas corpus was filed at the Supreme Court. A single bench of Justice Kumar Regmi issued the order on Tuesday to show cause of Prasai’s arrest. One person has also died due to him.

On March 29, 2081, Suresh Rajak, cameraperson of Avenues Television, was killed in a building in Tinkune, Kathmandu, during the agitation demanding the reinstatement of the monarchy. The movement was led by businessman and activist Durga Prasain. He had fled to India. He was arrested by the police from India.

Prasain has run an agriculture and vegetable market in 50 ropanis of land in Suryabinayak of Bhaktapur. He said that two billion rupees have been invested for this. Prasai had started bringing Mafia Whisky, Marcy Beer and Don Energy Drinks from March 15, 2020. His plan could not be fulfilled due to the Corona epidemic. After giving him the nickname ‘Medical Mafia’, he said that the mafia was going to bring whiskey under that name. He said that he has invested Rs 4.5 billion to produce Marcy beer and plans to invest another Rs 2.5 billion and employ 2,000 people.

Prasain has been running B&C Medical College and Teaching Hospital in Birtamode, Jhapa. Earlier, he had announced to bring into operation a three-star hotel in Jhapa. He also informed that preparations are underway to bring the hotel into operation by 2026. He has invested billions of rupees in the health sector.

According to Prasain, B&C had received a letter of intent on February 9, 2011 to establish the medical college. The then Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment on November 3, 2014 approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the 900-bed medical college project.

However, the Medical Education Act did not fulfill Prasain’s plan. The reason for this is that Dr. Dr Govinda KC had been staging hunger strike 2 dozen times in the name of medical reform campaign.

B&C had gone to the Medical Commission on February 15, 2019 for affiliation. The EC has not renewed the letter of intent since 2073 BS and did not take consent from Kathmandu University. Prasai went to the Supreme Court for not getting the affiliation citing bribe of Rs 20 crore.

The Supreme Court explained that the letter of intent to be renewed within three months was automatically cancelled as it was not renewed. After that, he started reaching out to various leaders. Prasai became a Maoist in 2057 BS and joined UML in 2078 BS.

Prasain, who called UML Chairman Oli ‘Grandpa’, became a delegate in the statute general convention held in Lalitpur in September 2078 after he was not a member of the party. He was nominated as a central member in the tenth national convention of the CPN-UML. Not only that, he also became the deputy chief of the industry department of the UML. He only wanted affiliation to a medical college.

Oli inaugurated the Purbanchal Cancer Hospital on February 16, 2020. On the same day, Oli had claimed that the B&C Medical College would soon be granted. On Falgun 22, 2078 BS, PM Oli directed Minister for Education, Science and Technology Krishna Gopal Shrestha in the senate meeting of Kathmandu University to expedite the process of granting affiliation to B&C.

Minister Shrestha said the government should provide affiliation to the office-bearers of Medical Education Commission. A meeting of the Medical Education Commission held on June 11, 2021 could not grant affiliation. And he became even more angry. Prasain left the UML on February 19, 2022 after he could not get rid of the UML. He then joined the RPP to restore the monarchy in Nepal.

After a long effort, Prasain’s plan was completed on Chaitra 12, 2080. In Chaitra 2080, the Supreme Court ordered the affiliation to B&C Medical College in Birtamode, Jhapa. Prasai had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court naming Kathmandu University and Medical Education Commission as defendants, arguing that he did not get affiliation even after preparing all the infrastructures.

His years-long plan has succeeded.

But by that time, a lot of things had gone wrong. Medical equipment worth crores of rupees was imported for the hospital in the hope of getting affiliation to the medical college. However, he faced a lot of financial pressure as he did not get the affiliation on time. His financial condition deteriorated as he could not repay the loan taken from the bank on time. It also had an impact on the banking sector. । He had taken a loan of about Rs 6.75 billion from the bank. The bank’s profit was affected and dividend distribution was affected due to the failure to repay the loan on time.

Later, he even had a case with some banks.

He had taken loans worth Rs 5.57 billion from various banks and finances. Durga Prasai has taken loan from commercial banks such as NIC Asia, Prabhu Bank, Kumari Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Nepal Investment Mega Bank and Global IME Bank. Similarly, they have taken loans from banks and financial institutions like Lumbini Development Bank and Goodwill Finance.

Prasain had also filed a case against four banks including Kumari Bank. The case was filed on September 23, 2022. The court had rejected Durga Prasai’s request in the final verdict and ordered the banks to proceed with the loan recovery process as per the legal process.

He blamed the state for all this. Many argued that Prasain had built a good cancer hospital in Jhapa and it should be given affiliation. There are also those who say that the state has not given him affiliation on time. If the affiliation given in 2080 BS had been given in 2077 and 78, as Prasai had said, nurses and doctors would have been able to study in Nepal itself. Nepali money would not go abroad. He said that the issue of providing employment to 5,000 people would also be fulfilled. It would create jobs at home. Even now, he employs more than a thousand people.

As the government added pain to the pain, he began to dig into the state.

Two women in Jhapa district committed suicide after they failed to repay the loan taken from microfinance institutions. In the language of Prasai, he could not bear the incident. Stating that girls had to commit suicide due to inability to repay loans, he announced a campaign of agitation against the tendency of microfinance financial institutions to collect loans and started leading the ‘Movement for Not Repaying Loans’.

He called on the borrowers of cooperatives and microfinance companies not to repay loans. The agitation intensified at Maitighar demanding loan waiver. He launched the ‘Save the Nation, Nationality, Religion, Culture and Citizens Mega Campaign’ and became its coordinator.

The government was harassed by not granting affiliation to the medical college on time, and the letter that I was forced to walk with a burden saying that I did not get justice gradually became a challenge for the state. Despite all this, his business continued.

After that, he and his campaign activists started attacking banks and financial institutions. He started attacking bankers and other businessmen, calling them ‘Marwari community’ by naming the bank itself. His activists started vandalizing bank branches, manhandling and misbehaving with employees. He became a burden on the state.

Although Prasain is a businessman, he is not seen anywhere in the businessmen’s organizations. The private sector, which makes statements when other businessmen are arrested, does not show interest in his arrest. The main reason for this is Prasain’s speech and how he treats himself as an institution rather than an individual. It’s also about easy access to politics.