Kathmandu – The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) has filed a case against Silk Group Pvt. Ltd., seven subsidiary companies under the group, and its Chairman Ramesh Sherpa, along with nine other individuals, on charges of revenue leakage.
According to the DRI, the accused were involved in the illegal import and smuggling of 86,400 units of electronic cigarettes (vapes). The department’s charge sheet states that the accused caused a revenue loss of NPR 873,123,828.50 and should be penalized with an equal amount in fines, bringing the total recovery amount to NPR 1,746,247,657.
The vapes—worth nearly NPR 250 million—were recovered from a Silk Group warehouse located in Sital Height, Mahalaxmi Municipality, Lalitpur. The operation followed the arrest of Bhagwatnath Chaudhary from Balar Municipality, Sarlahi, on January 5 (Poush 21) after receiving intelligence about large-scale smuggling of such goods.
Based on Chaudhary’s statement, the DRI raided the RM Trade and Suppliers warehouse in Sital Height, where the smuggled vapes were found. The department also arrested Mahesh Prasad Pathak of Kanchanpur, operator of RM Trade and Suppliers, and Santosh Parajuli of Sindhupalchok, transport manager at Silk Group.
The DRI’s investigation identified the key role of Ramesh Sherpa and Bijay Sherpa in the smuggling operation. It also found that five Silk Group companies sold 38,924 units of vapes from stock without issuing official invoices.
Furthermore, the charge sheet alleges that Silk Group and its seven subsidiaries purchased 316,315 units of vapes smuggled through customs evasion and engaged in multiple layers of fake transactions to conceal the source of purchase, thereby making fraudulent VAT deduction claims.