Late on Thursday evening, January 9, the District Police Office, Kaski, released Rabi Lamichhane, chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), on bail after 84 days in custody. The decision followed an order from the District Court, Kaski, issued earlier that day.
A single bench of Judge Nitiz Rai ruled that Lamichhane be released upon posting bail of Rs 6.5 million.
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Lamichhane, a television personality-turned-politician, was arrested on October 18 last year from his party office in Kathmandu. He was then taken to Pokhara, Kaski, for an investigation into alleged embezzlement of funds at the Pokhara-based Surya Darshan Cooperative.
On December 22, the District Government Attorney’s Office in Kaski filed a chargesheet against Lamichhane and 30 others at the Kaski District Court. The charges include cooperative fraud for all accused, organized crime for 19 individuals, and money laundering for four. Lamichhane faces all three charges.
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The office has thus far filed chargesheets against 63 individuals in relation to alleged embezzlement. The court on Thursday also ordered the release of six other defendants on bail, according to the state-owned news agency RSS.
Chhabilal Joshi, Lila Pachhai, and Ram Bahadur Khanal were ordered to be released upon posting bails of Rs 8.8 million, Rs 3.7 million, and Rs 1.5 million, respectively. Similarly, Mina Gurung and Arati Gurung were each ordered to be released on Rs 500,000 bail, while Krishna Bahadur Gurung was ordered to be released on Rs 100,000 bail. Except for Pachhai, all defendants paid their bail amounts on late Thursday evening, reported RSS, citing the district court.
Charges against Lamichhane in the Kaski case led to his suspension as a lawmaker representing Chitwan Constituency-2.
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Separately, on January 5, the District Government Attorney’s Office in Kathmandu filed a similar chargesheet against Lamichhane and 38 others at the Kathmandu District Court. This case accuses them of cooperative fraud and organized crime connected to embezzlement at the Kathmandu-based Swarnalaxmi Multipurpose Cooperative.
Lamichhane remains under investigation for similar allegations in Butwal, Chitwan, and Parsa. He is expected to appear at the Kathmandu District Court on Friday for further proceedings.
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