Court in US dismisses case against Koirala

Painesville Municipal Court on Tuesday has dismissed the charges against Bhagirath Koirala, a Bhutanese elderly from Ohio in United States.

Koirala, 67, was charged with inducing panic and complicity after his nephew, Guru Dhimal, 28, called 911 from a Greyhound bus on April 10 and said terrorists were following him to New York and planned to blow up the White House.

“The state came to appreciate he had no knowledge of, and did not participate in the incident,” Koirala’s attorney, Subodh Chandra, said.

Koirala doesn’t speak English and didn’t know his nephew made the call until police cars surrounded the bus. Although Koirala knew that Dhimal was speaking on the phone in English, Koirala
had no idea what was being said because of a language barrier.

On April 10, 2015, Mr. Koirala was returning home from a visit to his sister and her family in

Syracuse, via a Greyhound bus. Mr. Koirala was being escorted by his sister’s son, Guru A.
Dhimal, 28, whom he had not seen in seven years. Mr. Koirala also did not know that his
nephew had been suffering from mental illness.

Mr. Koirala was incarcerated for three nights awaiting arraignment. He is an orthodox Hindu
priest and thus does not, as part of his deep faith, eat or drink anything prepared or purchased outside his home. His religious beliefs were not accommodated, and he thus went hungry and
thirsty while imprisoned.

Subodh Chandra, Mr. Koirala’s pro bono counsel with The Chandra Law Firm LLC, said, “Mr. Koirala appreciates the prosecutor and judge recognising his complete innocence. The public needs to understand that sometimes completely innocent people can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and have their reputations incinerated across the internet. All of the trolls who spewed forth racist venom towards this humble priest and refugee from political persecution owe him an apology.”

The matter was referred to Chandra Law by the Hindu American Foundation of Washington,
D.C.

Dhimal is charged with two counts of inducing panic and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 26.

He is freed on a personal bond and was ordered to surrender his passport and comply with any recommendations from mental health professionals in his home state of New York.

Koirala arrived US under third country resettlement in 2008 and is a naturalised US citizen.