Rupanahi Court releases Rabi Lamichhane on bail of RS10 million

The Rupanahi District Court granted the bail on Sunday to the Head of Rastriya Swatantra, Rabi Lamichhane, accused of evolving the funds of the Supreme Credit and Savings Cooperative, with a bail of RS10 million. Judge Prahlad Kumar Yogi’s bank announced the bond after a one -day detention hearing.

Government prosecutors argued the judicial arrest of Lamichhane, citing concerns that after liberation, former Interior Minister Lamichhane can interfere with the justice process. However, Lamichhane’s legal team responded these statements, claiming political reprisals against him.

The accusations against Lamichhane come from irregularities in cooperative funds, including payments made through checks signed by Lamichhane, transfers of questionable property and financial dissemination. The District Prosecutor’s Office presented this evidence in the charges sheet, which implied Lamichhane in the defrappers of Defrape.

This ruling occurs after Lamichhane received the bail previously in cases of separate cooperative fraud. The Kaski District Court had ordered its release on the bond of RS6.5 million in the Suryadarshan cooperative, based in Pokhara, while the Katmandu district court gave it bail in RS6 million in the cooperative case Swarnalakshmi based in headquarters in Kalimati.

The case in Rupanahi is based on an investigation by the Police Office of the Butwal area, which identified Lamichhane’s participation in financial irregularities linked to the cooperative. Prosecutors claim that Lamichhane’s acts helped the embezzlement of millions of rupees saved by depositors.

Lamichhane, who denies the charges, has also faced similar accusations Chitwan and Parsa.

He is accused of illegally diverting millions of rupees of cooperatives in the five districts of the Gorkha media network that operated the now missing Galaxy 4K TV, where he was managing director before joining politics in June 2022.