Former deputy prime minister and CPN-UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi was released from Dillibazar Prison in Kathmandu on Thursday morning after receiving a sentence reduction under legal provisions for senior citizens, Nepali news outlets reported.

Source: Red Voice Nepal

Rayamajhi, 65, was serving a four-year prison sentence for his involvement in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam. Prison sources told reporters he was handed over to his wife and other family members on release and left the prison on Thursday morning.

Source: Daily Nepal Times

According to the reports, Rayamajhi applied to the Kathmandu District Court for the senior-citizen benefit after turning 65 on November 11. The court granted a 25 per cent reduction — one year off the four-year term — and sent a revised prison warrant to the prison administration, which then carried out the release.

The case behind the sentence

Rayamajhi was arrested in 2023 in connection with the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, in which Nepali citizens were allegedly deceived into paying large sums of money in exchange for being sent to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. The Kathmandu District Court convicted him in July 2026 of fraud, organised crime and offences against the state, and sentenced him to four years in prison.

Daily Nepal Times reported that prison officials confirmed the release was carried out in accordance with the revised detention warrant issued by the court. Banking News Nepal, reporting ahead of the release, said the jailer of Dillibazar Prison, Baburam Aryal, had confirmed receiving the revised prisoner record from the court.

The wider case is not closed: Banking News Nepal reported that the matter remains pending before the High Court and will be resolved through the legal process. Rayamajhi's next political steps, including any appeal and his position within the CPN-UML, have not been announced.