Dinesh Rajauria, Director General of the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, and Krishna Prasad Rijal, Director of the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project, have been taken into custody in connection with a contract linked to the diversion scheme, acting on a directive from the Prime Minister's Office. Rajauria was detained in Siraha, while Rijal was held in Sindhuli, according to a senior police source. Both officials have since been handed over to the Prime Minister's Office, which ordered the action.

Detained in two districts, handed to the PM's Office

The operation saw police detain Rajauria in Siraha district in Madhesh Province, while Rijal was taken into custody in Sindhuli, the hill district where the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project is located. A senior police source confirmed the detentions, which were carried out following a directive issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

Rather than being placed under the control of an ordinary investigative agency, both officials were handed over directly to the Prime Minister's Office. This arrangement underscores the direct involvement of the country's top executive office in the matter, an unusual course for a case involving two of the most senior figures in the irrigation sector.

Rajauria heads the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, the central government body responsible for planning, regulating and implementing irrigation and water resource projects across the country. Rijal, as project director, oversees the day-to-day implementation of one of Nepal's flagship infrastructure schemes. Their simultaneous detention places the leadership of both the department and the project at the centre of a case now being handled at the highest level of government.

The detentions were reported by Onlinekhabar and Ratopati.

A contract at the centre of the case

Police moved against the two officials over a contract related to the diversion project, according to the senior police source. Initial reports did not disclose the name of the contractor, the value of the agreement or the specific allegations tied to it, and neither office has issued a public statement on the matter.

The detention of a sitting director general of a government department, alongside the director of a national pride project, marks a significant escalation in scrutiny of contract management within the country's irrigation and water resources administration. That the action originated from a directive of the Prime Minister's Office, rather than through a routine complaint-driven process made public, has added to the prominence of the case.

What is the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project?

The Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project is one of Nepal's national pride projects, located in Sindhuli district. It is designed to divert water from the Sunkoshi River into the Marin Khola, from where the water flows toward the Bagmati River basin. The project is being implemented under the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, the same department that Rajauria leads.

Its principal components include:

  • A hydropower station with an installed capacity of around 67.3 megawatts
  • Irrigation facilities intended to serve roughly 122,000 hectares of agricultural land in the plains of Madhesh Province, including districts such as Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari and Dhanusha
  • A drinking water supply component aimed at helping meet demand in the Kathmandu Valley
  • Groundwater recharge benefits in the southern Terai districts

The project is considered strategically important for agriculture in the Tarai-Madhesh region, where farmers have long depended on erratic rainfall and groundwater for cultivation. Because it combines power generation, irrigation and drinking water objectives in a single scheme, it has attracted sustained political attention and significant public investment, making the integrity of its contracting a matter of public interest.

What happens next

With Rajauria and Rijal now under the control of the Prime Minister's Office, attention will turn to what formal steps follow. The specific nature of the allegations, the terms of the contract in question and the identity of any other individuals involved have not been made public, and authorities have not indicated when further details might be released.

The handover of two senior officials directly to the Prime Minister's Office means the executive is currently the custodian of the matter, rather than it having moved immediately to a formal investigation by an anti-corruption body or other agency. Whether a case is registered and against whom will determine the next phase of proceedings.

For the irrigation sector, the development comes at a sensitive moment, with the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation simultaneously without its top administrator and its flagship Sindhuli-based project without its director. Any disruption to project leadership could affect oversight of ongoing works, although authorities have not commented on the operational implications of the detentions.

Further details, including the response of the two officials and the scope of the contract under scrutiny, are expected to emerge as the matter progresses.