KATHMANDU, Feb. 17 -- The Special Court has convicted former government employees, middlemen and land buyers in the infamous Lalita Niwas land-grab case that saw the involvement of high-profile politicians as well.

A division bench of judges Khushi Prasad Tharu, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Ritendra Thapa, however, acquitted the politicians allegedly involved in the scam. Besides ordering the confiscation of the land illegally acquired in the corruption case involving 175 people, the court sentenced each of them to a maximum of two years imprisonment and imposed fines of up to Rs 8 million.

Deep Basnyat, a former secretary and former head of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, along with former secretary, the then emplo...