Jyoti Bikash Bank Ltd. Condemns Criminal Attack and Unlawful Detention of Employees
16th December 2025, Kathmandu
Jyoti Bikash Bank Ltd., a national-level development bank operating under the regulatory directives of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), has released a strong public statement expressing its most serious concern and condemnation regarding a grave criminal incident. The incident involved the bank’s employees and has been officially characterized by the bank as highly unfortunate, clearly planned, and criminal in nature. This alarming event raises serious and urgent questions about the safety, security, and working environment for professionals within Nepal’s entire banking and financial sector.
Jyoti Bank Condemns Attack
The bank’s press release serves to highlight the severe dangers faced by employees when carrying out their legitimate duties, especially those related to loan recovery and the maintenance of financial discipline. The institution is pursuing all available legal avenues to address the serious criminal offenses committed against its staff.
Details of the Incident and Allegations of Abuse
According to the official press statement released by the bank, the criminal incident involved the bank’s borrowers, specifically Saptakoshi Integrated Agro Farm Pvt. Ltd., who are clients of the bank’s Rupani Branch.
Prearranged Dialogue: The bank initiated contact with the borrowers via telephone to invite them for a planned discussion regarding the regularization of overdue loan installments. An agreement was reached during this conversation to meet at the borrower’s location to finalize the necessary details.
Dispatch of Employees: As agreed, two employees from the bank’s Bardibas Regional Office were dispatched to the borrower’s premises, the farm location, solely to hold the stipulated discussions concerning the overdue loan repayments.
Criminal Turn of Events: However, upon the employees reaching the farm, the situation rapidly devolved into a disturbing and criminal event. The bank alleges that the directors of the borrowing company, along along with their immediate family members and associated persons, forcibly detained the bank employees. During this unlawful detention, the staff were allegedly subjected to planned physical and psychological abuse. The bank contends that the attack was executed with the clear and serious apparent intent to kill. Jyoti Bikash Bank has condemned this act in the strongest possible terms, describing it as a serious criminal offense carried out against professionals who were merely performing their lawful and institutional duties.
Organized Criminal Behavior and Institutional Coercion
The press release details the disturbing extent of the alleged criminal behavior, stressing the organized and premeditated nature of the attack and subsequent detention.
Prolonged Detention: The employees were reportedly held under forced control for a period of several hours in what the bank firmly characterizes as a deliberately organized criminal act. This prolonged detention heightened the employees’ physical and psychological distress.
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Alarming Political Involvement: Even more concerning is the bank’s claim that the incident involved the active participation of an incumbent Deputy Mayor, making the entire event exceptionally alarming, politically charged, and worthy of the highest level of condemnation. The involvement of a public official in such an alleged criminal act against bank employees performing their duties is a serious breach of public trust.
Extortion Under Duress: During the period of unlawful detention, the bank alleges that the employees were severely threatened with death unless the bank immediately complied with an ultimatum. The demand was that the bank must issue a written letter from its central office immediately suspending the collateral auction process related to the defaulted loan.
Forced Compliance: The bank emphasized that despite its repeated and desperate efforts to contact security agencies, no immediate assistance was received, leaving the institution with no viable alternative to save the lives of its detained staff. Under this extreme duress and solely to safeguard the lives of its employees, the bank states that it was forced to issue the letter as demanded by the perpetrators.
Bank’s Commitment and Call for Justice
Jyoti Bikash Bank Ltd. used the statement to clarify its institutional position and demand immediate legal action against the perpetrators.
Lawful Operation: The bank reiterated that it operates strictly in accordance with the established policies, directives, laws, and regulations issued by the national regulator, Nepal Rastra Bank, as well as the prevailing banking and financial legislation of Nepal. Its employees act solely as professional agents fulfilling institutional responsibilities in a lawful and transparent manner.
Undermining the Rule of Law: The bank described the incident as deeply regrettable, particularly because it occurred while employees were performing legitimate duties related to financial discipline. Jyoti Bikash Bank strongly emphasized that such acts directly undermine the rule of law, pose a serious threat to institutional integrity, and expose banking professionals to unacceptable risks.
Growing Threat: The bank also voiced profound concern over a regrettable but growing trend of anarchic and criminal activities targeting banks and financial institutions across the country in recent times. It expressed deep solidarity with the affected staff and reiterated its steadfast commitment to protecting the dignity and safety of all banking professionals.
Legal Action: Jyoti Bikash Bank Ltd. confirmed that it has already initiated all necessary legal procedures to bring the perpetrators within the full ambit of the law. It demands strict legal action and the maximum possible punishment against all individuals responsible for the incident, affirming that criminal acts of this nature cannot and must not go unpunished. The bank reiterated its firm and unwavering stance against criminal intentions and unlawful pressure, stating it will not tolerate intimidation, violence, or coercion directed at its employees during lawful banking operations.
For More: Jyoti Bank Condemns Attack
