Pokhara, 19 October | Police have initiated a further investigation into the citizenship and birth registration of Tenzing Dawa Lama, a member of the TOB group currently in police custody, after the documents were deemed suspicious. According to high-level police sources, the details Lama presented for his birth certificate and citizenship have raised doubts, prompting the authorities to launch an inquiry into their authenticity. Lama had submitted a birth registration and citizenship certificate issued by Ward No. 6 of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to the police.
As per the details provided by Lama, the birth registration was issued on March 23, 2007 (B.S. 2063 Chaitra 10), and the citizenship certificate was issued in June 2022 (B.S. 2079 Ashar). However, the KMC Ward Office has indicated that these records are suspicious. Bhuwan Lama, Ward Chairperson of KMC-6, told Onlinekhabar that no corresponding entries for the details were found in the ward office’s official registry. “We didn’t find anything in the ledger,” Ward Chairman Lama stated, adding, “We are preparing a letter with the corresponding details to be sent to the District Police Office tomorrow.” This finding casts serious doubt on the official status of Tenzing Dawa Lama’s identity documents.
Lama was initially detained and had a six-day extension of his remand granted by the Kathmandu District Administration Office on September 27 for investigation into a case of indecent behaviour. The police began their search after Lama allegedly displayed a weapon resembling a pistol, creating fear and panic among the public. The search intensified after a video went viral on social media showing a person wearing a TOB-branded jacket carrying a pistol, prompting Lama to contact the police himself. The police have since clarified that the viral video was not from the GenZ protest but is nearly one year old, and a fake pistol was recovered from him. Currently, the police are simultaneously investigating both the indecent behaviour charge and the authenticity of his citizenship documents.
