KATHMANDU, April 6: Rabi Lamichhane, Chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has been taken to Bhairahawa for a court hearing on a cooperative fraud scam.
Although the Rupandehi District Court had earlier ordered his release on bail of Rs 10 million, the Tulsipur High Court overturned that decision and ordered that Lamichhane be kept in custody for further investigation in relation to his involvement in the Rupandehi-based Supreme Cooperative fraud and organized crime case.
A joint bench of Justices Ramesh Dhakal and Swikriti Parajuli at the High Court Tulsipur’s Butwal bench issued the order on Friday to remand Lamichhane.
Hearing on case against cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane today
Lamichhane was arrested from his residence in Kathmandu on Friday night and flown to Bhairahawa on Saturday morning via a Yeti Airlines flight.
Due to public holidays on Saturday and Sunday, he will only be presented before the Rupandehi District Court on Monday. Until then, he will remain in custody at the District Police Office.
Former journalis-turned-politician Lamichhane faces several court cases on charges of embezzling money from around half a dozen cooperatives and channeling the funds to the Gorkha Media Pvt Ltd where he served as the managing director before entering politics.
Lamichhane, who won election from Chitwan and also served as the deputy prime minister and home minister before his fall from grace, has consistently maintained his innocence in all these cases from the beginning.
